Mass Effect - Future Imperfect
by MizDirected
Summary: One decision can change the entire game. When Commander Jane Shepard refuses to allow Nihlus to leave the Normandy without back up, the future becomes fluid. Will this universe be better or worse prepared to meet the Reapers? AU featuring at least most of the same players. Rated M for language, sexuality, excessive use of alcohol, and smart-butted-ness.
1. Chapter 1

"I move faster on my own." The turian Spectre headed for the end of the ramp.

"Wait a second." Commander Shepard jumped forward and caught his arm. "This is my mission. You're here to observe. Fall in or stay behind."

Nihlus jerked away from her hand, his predator's eyes staring into hers. Shepard just stared back. He laughed, his mandibles flaring a little. "I don't think so, Shepard." He yanked his arm, but she held on, forced to follow closer to the edge of the ramp. "Let go before I put you on your ass, Shepard."

She gave him a half smile. "You can try."

"Approaching drop point two," the pilot called over the comm.

"Stow the pissing contest!" Anderson, the _Normandy_'s captain, shouted over the roar of the wind.

Shepard nodded. "Glad to, sir, as soon as our guest comprehends the situation." She winced a little at talking back to Anderson, but he'd understand. If she let this seven-foot, armour-wrapped pile of attitude and condescension get away with anything, she'd be kowtowing to him forever.

"Shepard . . .." The rest of the captain's sentence was cut off by the _Normandy_ dropping a couple of metres suddenly, at the same time as the Spectre yanked hard on his arm.

Both Shepard and the turian lost their balance, tumbling to the decking, rolling helplessly down the ramp and dropping off the edge. Shepard twisted, pulling every muscle in her body to land on top, letting the turian take the brunt of the hit. Still, hitting the ground knocked the wind out of her. Gasping, she braced her rifle across his chest, shoving him back down when he tried to rise.

"Get on board, Kryik," she wheezed, struggling to catch her breath. She used her rifle to help lever herself to her feet and stumbled away a couple of steps. Looking around, she saw nothing but trees, swamp and floating things that looked like brains. "Where in the great land of fuck are we?" She raised her hand to her ear, but before she could call for her squad, they jogged down the road.

"Thank god, you're okay," Alenko sighed. "We didn't …."

"The turian made a good landing pad." Shepard jerked her head down the road. "Come on, let's move." She ran past the Spectre, who leaned on one knee, still wheezing. "You coming?"

"I wouldn't push it, Shepard," Alenko whispered. "He looks about ready to plug you."

Shepard nodded. "Good. Now he knows what to expect."

Looking out over the burning fields, Shepard cast weary eyes at the buildings rising out of the landscape like strange megaliths, completely out of place, almost obscene in such an idyllic landscape. She'd seen ten colonies just like it on planets that ranged from nearly as beautiful and suitable as Eden Prime to frozen wastelands in the middle of being terraformed. Each colony was just as ugly as the next. At least this planet made for a pretty backdrop to civilization's grotesquely inappropriate architecture.

Tracers fired back and forth, showing that the Alliance Marines stationed on the planet remained in the fight.

Catching a blur of black and red as the turian Spectre raced past her, Shepard chuckled to herself. He didn't lack for spirit; their partnership might prove entertaining.

Shepard waved to the marines. "Alenko, Jenkins, come on, before he leaves us behind."

They found the first bodies fifty metres along.

"God, what is going on here?" Alenko asked. Jenkins just made a sorrowful sort of strangled moan. He'd grown up on Eden Prime, if Shepard recalled correctly.

"Hold it together, Jenkins," Shepard said, keeping her voice firm but empathetic. "You won't be any good to anyone if you lose it."

"Yes, ma'am." The corporal squared his shoulders and rolled his neck.

Nihlus took cover further up the road just before his voice came through on her radio. "Drones up ahead, Shepard."

"Roger that." She gestured for Alenko and Jenkins to take cover and watch her six, then crouched low and ran forward. She pressed her back against a boulder then peered out. It took a moment, but then she spotted them. Three small, blue metal drones.

"Recon," she whispered. She switched her assault rifle for her sniper rifle and eased it open to its full length. Resting the weapon on the rock, she sighted down the first drone. A gentle squeeze on the trigger, and it exploded. She let the recoil settle, then sighted the second. Her shields let out staccato complaints as the remaining drones opened fire on her, but she squeezed the trigger and then only one remained. Alenko, Jenkins and Nihlus finished it off before she could line up her shot.

She gave Nihlus a cocky half-smile as she shrugged her rifle onto her back, switching to the assault rifle again. She looked over her shoulder at the Marines. "Come on, let's get moving. We're hell and gone from the damned beacon yet."

"Not sure that pissing a Spectre off is the best career move, Commander," Alenko said.

"Neither is letting one get himself killed on my watch," Shepard countered. "Come on, let's keep moving before whoever is attacking does any more damage."

"Yes, ma'am," Jenkins said, his voice tight with grief and anger. "We can't let them get away with this."

"Keep cool, Jenkins," Shepard warned. "We do this by the numbers." She watched him, looking for the small signs and signals that he'd flipped his shit, but he settled.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'll scout ahead," the Spectre called, taking off.

"Stay in sight." She let out a semi-exasperated sigh and set out at a ground-eating jog. She hadn't really expected a Spectre with as many awards and citations as Kryik to bend to her, but she'd wanted to know how far she could push before he pushed back. He hadn't let her down.

The sound of gunfire tore through the air just ahead, over a small rise. Shepard stepped around a huddle of burned bodies on the road, making a beeline up the grassy slope. She held up a fist to halt the two marines then waved them into cover on her flanks. When they took their positions, she moved forward, keeping her profile low and sticking to the shadows under the massive trees.

A soldier in pink and white armour raced around a boulder, rounds hitting her in the back and knocking her flat. She rolled over, firing at enemies Shepard couldn't see. The commander ran out, grabbed the Marine's arm and dragged her behind the nearest cover.

"You okay?" she barked without looking down. Rifle-first, she peered out around the rock. Three … machines … with flashlights for heads walked up the path, guns, the like of which Shepard had never seen before, held at low ready. "Shit, what the hell are these things?" Lifting her hand to her ear, she opened a channel. "Kryik, where in fuck's name are you?"

"Ahead and to your left."

Shepard looked out, ducking back when the machines opened fire. "Name, soldier? Are you okay? Do you know what the hell these things are?" She pelted the new Marine with questions as she returned fire.

"I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, ma'am, and I'm fine, just singed. I think they're geth, ma'am," the Marine said, clambering up to cover Shepard's six.

"Geth?" Shepard repeated then sighed. "Great." She leaned out and opened fire, taking one out with a short burst of squealing and chattering like a bad extranet connection. Nihlus, Alenko and Jenkins opened fire, and between them, the other machines went down.

"I'm going out ahead again," Nihlus called, sprinting across the open grassland toward a series of walls.

"Damn it, Kryik. Hold up for five bloody seconds!" Shepard let out the foulest curse she could think of and nodded to Williams. "Come on, Williams. We could use you. We'll give you the 411 after I shoot that turian in the arse." She waved her weapon, beckoning to Jenkins and Alenko. "Come on, gentlemen, we've got a runaway turian on our hands." She set off, double-timing it to a cleared area, dotted with crates.

Partway down the slope, she stopped and looked up at a huge, metal spike. Near the top, a person dangled, the spike rammed straight through his body. "What in the name of the holy baby Jesus is that?"

Williams shuddered. "The geth have been impaling any prisoners they take on these things. I don't know why."

"Psychological warfare, maybe?" Alenko offered.

Shepard just shook her head. "Lovely planet you've got here, Williams."

"Yes, ma'am, until this morning, it sure was." Williams looked around with an expression of combined nausea and rage.

She paused. "This the dig site?"

Williams nodded. "They must have moved the beacon to the spaceport." She gestured to an open spot in the walls. "It's up those ramps."

"Then let's keep moving." She raised her fingers to her ear and opened a channel even as she hoofed it up the ramps. "Kryik, where the hell are you?" She looked to Alenko. "I swear if I have to ask that question one more time, I'm going to plug him myself."

"Closing in on the spaceport now, Shepard. There are more of those spikes down here, bodies hanging from them. Not many geth. I'm moving forward."

"Wait for us. We're two minutes behind you." She slowed as they reached the top of the ramps, the area opening up into a camp made from prefab trailers. She crouched low, moving up in a slow jog. She didn't want Nihlus to get too much of a head start on her, but she wasn't about to charge in like an ass, either.

"No wonder Spectres have such short life expectancies," Alenko muttered.

Shepard nodded and motioned for him and Jenkins to check out the trailers ahead. "Williams, stay on my six. Keep your eyes peeled. We'll move up to have eyes on that space port gentlemen. Move up when you've cleared the trailers."

"Yes, ma'am." The two men jogged toward the trailer.

Shepard and Williams worked their way forward, sticking to the cover provided by the rocky shelf on the left-hand side of the road. Up ahead, Shepard heard a terrible screeching sound, metal sliding over metal, and looked out. The spikes lowered, folding into themselves, and the bodies stuck at the point began to move.

"They're still alive!" Williams called out.

Shepard grabbed Williams and dragged her back. "They're not people any more. Look at them. The geth have turned them into machines … husks of their old selves." She brought her assault rifle up, firing on the husk creatures as they detached from the spikes and began lurching their way. "Holy crap, robot zombies. I so didn't need this today."

Williams leaned out, firing. "Don't think you've got much choice, ma'am."

"No, I never do. Why don't I ever get the cushy pick ups? Shepard, the asari councillor left her poodle on Illium. Swing by and pick it up." Shepard took one of the husks down a couple of metres away, then staggered back as it let out a blast of energy that tore down her shields. 'Okay, important note. Don't let them do that again." Keeping low, she ran forward behind a malfunctioning trash can or something. She took down another zombie robot and dashed forward again.

A strange, screeching roaring noise pounded at Shepard's head. She stopped and shook her head, the horrible, mechanical cacophony cutting straight through her like a case of auditory insanity. "Fucking fuck hella bloody fuck!"

"Holy shit!" Williams squawked, her rifle dropping to hang limp in her hand.

Shepard looked up, understanding the Marine's reaction as a massive ship blasted off the surface. It must have stood two kilometres tall and looked like a cross between a cuttlefish, a cockroach and something that would have made her wake up from the nightmare covered in sweat. "What the fuck?" she whispered slowly. "Kryik, you seeing this?"

"I see it, Shepard. I'm just about at the spaceport. There are a few geth."

Shepard frowned and looked away from the massive dreadnought, if that was what it was, seeing the Spectre moving toward the wreckage of a loading dock. He seemed very cavalier about the largest, most terrifying ship ever seen. "Do you know what that thing is?"

"No. Stop gawking at it and get your ass down here."

"No need to be a jackass. I've got your six." Grabbing Williams's arm, she pulled her forward. "Come on, let's keep moving."

Alenko and Jenkins appeared at the top of the rise, both stopping, their jaws dropping in unison as they saw the monstrous ship heading back to space. Shepard caught their attention with a quick jerk of her head, motioning for them to cover Nihlus's right flank.

Shepard traded back to her sniper rifle, sighting the closest geth. The first shot took its shields down, the second laid it out. She moved forward until the next geth came into scope and dropped it as well, clearing the way for Nihlus to move onto the dock platform.

Shepard stopped, a second turian walking into her scope. Nihlus talked to him. They seemed friendly. Raising her finger to her ear to ask for a situation update, Shepard saw Nihlus turn his back on the other turian. The other turian raised a gun, pointing it at the back of Kryik's head. Shepard dropped her hand to the trigger, getting off a shot that went wide, just nicking the second turian's shields, but it was enough that Nihlus spun around and saw the gun. The pair went down in a tangle of limbs, completely destroying Shepard's chance of getting a deadly shot in. She raced for the dock, switching her weapons as she ran.


	2. Chapter 2

Shepard charged.

"Take down one of my team? Noooooo, sir. Not even the annoying-as-shit one."

The second turian jumped up and ran even as she opened fire on him. He sprinted around a corner, disappearing behind a wall of crates. Nihlus lay sprawled on his back, unmoving.

"Damn it! Williams, Alenko, Jenkins... see where that bastard went. Be careful." She knelt next to Nihlus. "Hey, Kryik, come on, get your ass up." She looked him over for blood, but only saw a little running from a graze on his crest. Tapping his cheek with the back of her hand, she tried to rouse him. "Come on, damn it, that other guy is getting away."

"The other one jumped on a cargo train, Shepard!" Williams called. "There's a hell of a lot of geth covering his trail."

Shepard slapped Nihlus hard. "Get up, damn it, or I'm leaving your lazy ass behind."

He groaned and raised a hand to his head. "Saren . . .."

"Is getting away while you lie there." Shepard leaned a hand on his chest, holding him down. "Are you seriously injured?"

He shook his head. "No, let me up."

"Good." She stood and offered him her hand, pulling him to his feet when he took it. She made sure he could stand on his own, then trotted after her team. "Let's move, Kryik. I've already spent too long wringing my hands over your fragile bod."

Shepard skirted her people, moving down a long ramp. Taking some hits to her shields, she bolted across an open area to duck behind cover on the cargo train. The geth had dug in positions further up. "Oh good, they've got portable barriers too." She changed guns yet again. "One of these days, I have to just strap both of these fuckers together."

She brought the sniper rifle up, aiming at a massive green unit barrelling down the train at her. "Come on, Ingrid me luv, let's show 'em how we do it sniper style."

"Seriously?" Williams barked. "Ingrid?"

Shepard flattened the green unit and turned to one with a rocket launcher. "What's wrong with Ingrid? My Nan's name was Ingrid." Seeing Nihlus running up to cover her flank, she rolled out of cover and sprinted forward four metres.

"I'm trying not to throw up over 'do it sniper style'," the turian grumbled.

"You're all just jealous," Shepard chuckled, "but I've gotten used to that." She took out another couple of units and moved forward, keeping herself low. "Williams, Alenko, Jenkins, keep moving up, people. Camp on your own time, or I'll leave you behind."

They fought their way up the train, Shepard grumbling about why anyone would need such a long-ass train, covering one another as they moved up. Finally Shepard stepped up to the controls.

"All right. If I were the 'go' button on a cargo train, I would be . . .."

Nihlus pushed in. "I'm beginning to have major doubts about your general competence and sanity, Shepard." He grunted, the air whooshing from him as she bumped her rifle butt into his stomach.

"Ooo, I barely touched yah. Sensitive there, huh? Good to know." She pressed the control, activating the train. "Of course, I could have done that without giving your buddy a thirty-second head start if you'd just left me alone. They teach you to be all pushy and commanding-like in Spectre training?"

"Yes. Did they teach you to be obnoxious, abrasive, and insulting in N7 training?" he grumbled, rubbing the armour over his stomach.

"Nope. That's an inborn gift right there, sweetie. Now, go relax until we catch up with your friend." She patted his cheek.

He grabbed her wrist and leaned in close, his nose touching the end of hers. "We're going to have some things to settle when we get back to the ship, Shepard. Stow the mockery, or I'll put you on your ass."

One corner of her mouth twitched. "Oh yeah, I like you. You've got promise. We're going to get along just fine." She winked, backing him off, then shot a glare at the Marines that told them to stow the chuckling.

"So, who's your buddy?" She asked, turning to see how close they were to their destination. A ways to go yet.

Nihlus sighed, a low reverberation following it. "Saren. Another Spectre. He was my mentor when I was a recruit."

Shepard scowled. "Any idea what he's doing here?" She didn't need to look at the turian to feel the confusion and betrayal coursing through him. His mentor. It'd be like Anderson trying to kill her. She shuddered.

Nihlus shook his head and moved to the gate off to the one side, ready to disembark. "None, but I think the conclusion to be drawn here is pretty clear."

Shepard shrugged. "Conclusions can be drawn hastily. Let's finish clearing out these metal bastards and secure the beacon." She slapped his back as the train ground to a halt. "Come on, Kryik. We've got work to do."

Which started the moment she stepped off the train into a demolition explosive. "Oh, good, because my day just wasn't nearly fucked enough." She crouched down over it and cracked open the panel. "The rest of you, go ahead, see if there are others. Move!" Her fingers flew over the circuits and wires. "Okay, Instructor Myers, let's see if you knew what you were doing in Ordinance Disarming 403."

She pulled a panel. "Okay. I really hope I didn't sleep through this module." She flipped it over. "Okay. Pull wire A, cross it with . . .."

"More disarming; less senseless chatter!" Nihlus said, his voice practically barking in her ear.

Shepard finished disarming it, picked up her rifle and ran after them. "Hey, you deal with stress your way, I'll deal with it mine." She crossed a short bridge, rounds peppering her shields, then took cover behind a giant crate. Peeking out, she took stock, just to find another of the green destroyer geth barreling down the walkway.

"What is it with the suicide runners?" She swung out, pounding it with three round bursts from her assault rifle until it went down, along with her shields, and slid into her feet. Stepping over and around it, Shepard strode forward, looking for any more devices, taking a couple of bullets before she stepped behind cover.

Kaidan hit the wall next to her and gave her medigel. "You got some krogan in you, Commander?"

She leaned out around him and took out a trooper. "I don't know, I might. Mama was a big woman." Once her shields recovered, she jogged forward to the next device. "If someone could watch my ass while I disarm this-metaphorically, not actually Alenko-I'd appreciate it."

He took cover just ahead of her, sputtering. "What? Ma'am . . . I'd never! I . . . can't . . .."

Nihlus chuckled as he ran by. "You're going to have to throw up some shields there, lieutenant."

Jenkins took cover across from Alenko while Ashley trotted past, following Nihlus, laughing the whole way. "Wow, I've never seen anyone go that red, LT. I think your face might be hemorrhaging."

Shepard let the banter wash over her as she pulled apart the third of the devices. The timers were getting low. Nihlus had better find the last one quickly. She finished and pushed herself to her feet, following along. She took cover behind the railing as several geth dropped in on the other side of the bridge, negating Nihlus's cover as he worked over the last device.

"Damn!" he cursed, a bullet hitting the panel he was working on.

Shepard stepped up, using her shields to protect him. "Just keep working." She switched over to her sniper rifle, caressing the long barrel. "Ingrid and I have your back, Spectre." She raised it, couching the stock in her shoulder, sighting with practiced ease, putting bullets straight through the flashlights on each head. "Bullseye, Ingrid sweetie." She kissed the rifle and traded it out. "Kryik, you done back there? Please tell me you're not just crouching there staring at my ass."

Nihlus rolled past her onto his feet. "I was, actually. Wondering if it came in adult size."

Shepard grinned and hefted her assault rifle, jogging down the remainder of the walkway, cackling to herself. "Come on, people, let's get moving. We've got a beacon to stow."

The now-telltale screeching of the husk spikes greeted them as they ran out onto the docking floor. Shepard groaned, and started backing up to buy some room as the husks scrambled toward them, dodging and stumbling all over the place.

"It's like that damned retro game at the fairs," Jenkins said and cursed. "What's it called?"

"I think you're looking for Whack-A-Mole," Ashley called back. "Could someone tell these buggers to stand still?"

"Or at least run in a straight line, Williams?" Shepard laughed, pounding one down, but close enough that its dying discharge ripped down her shields.

"Weren't you supposed to remember not to let them do that again?" the Gunnery Chief said, laughing.

"Yeah. Damn, it stings too." The last husk down, Shepard traded guns, able to see three geth taking cover behind crates.

"You'll never hit them from here, Shepard," Nihlus called, moving up.

She didn't bother replying, just nestled Ingrid into her shoulder and sighted down the four inches of flashlight head sticking up above the crate. One shot, down. Next. One shot, down. She moved up a couple of feet to get a better angle on the last one, sighted it down. Crack. Ingrid sent a bullet splitting the air, right into the back of the geth's arched neck. Crack. The second one put it down.

Shepard sighed. "God, I love you." She traded Ingrid for Roger. "Come on, old man, let's get this done."

She said nothing to Nihlus as she passed, feeling no immediate need to rub his face in it. Surely, he'd looked up her record and knew about her one great talent. It would come to him.

Movement at the far end of the docking floor caught her eye, apparently at the same time it caught Nihlus's.

"Saren!" The Spectre raced off, Alenko and Williams in hot pursuit. She almost called them back, but then let them go. At least he'd have backup if he caught the other Spectre.

The beacon stood on the closest platform, glowing with green energy. She scowled at it. "Hey, Williams, was this thing glowing before?"

"No, ma'am. Damn, the turian is fast."

Shepard jogged over to where she could get a clear shot at the second turian . . . had Nihlus called him Saren? But then, the bastard just jumped onto a floating surfboard and disappeared down into the trees.

Nihlus started to leap over the barricade, but luckily Alenko grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Hey! Kyrik! Save your lover's spat for once we get this beacon secured." She shook her head and turned back, joining Jenkins over by a bank of lockers.

"We need to know why he was here and what he was doing, Shepard!" Kryik groused back.

"And how does you leaping down fifty feet to break an ankle while he flies away on the magical surfboard get us any answers? Stand down. Relax. We'll deal with your boyfriend once we get this thing onboard the _Normandy_. Come on, get back here, and I'll give you a kiss to tide you over until you get that sweet, sweet turian . . . whatever it is you do . . . again."

"Fuck, Shepard!" She jumped at the vehemence behind the swear. He'd been hanging around humans too long. "Don't you know when to just shut up?" His voice practically ripped out her eardrum with the heavy growl underneath it.

She just smiled, nodded, and closed the channel. "That's a boy, get good and furious with me."

Jenkins looked at her and shook his head. "You trying to get shot, Commander?"

"No, but if he's yelling at me, he's not ripping himself apart over Saren betraying him. I can take a little rage."

Opening a channel to the _Normandy_, she called them to come in for pickup.

Nihlus stormed up to her, his entire body trembling with fury, murder in his eyes. He shoved his shotgun into its spot at the small of his back, then clenched his fists, obviously wanting nothing more than to grab her and slam her into the lockers behind her as hard as he could manage.

Shepard just crooked one corner of her mouth and met his fury with silent understanding. After a moment, he let out a breath that seemed as though it might deflate him completely, then turned and stalked off toward the beacon.

"Commander Shepard?" the _Normandy_'s pilot called. "Incoming for pickup."

"Roger that, _Normandy_. On my signal. Ground team leader out." Shepard turned to the other three, Alenko and Williams just running up, panting like they'd sprinted three klicks. "Come on, people. Let's get this package . . .."

Shepard bolted forward as an energy field erupted from the beacon, grabbing hold of Nihlus, and dragged him forward. Sprinting across the metres that separated them, she launched herself at him, throwing him clear of the field.

"Crap!" She didn't have the momentum to get loose herself. The field grabbed her like a bolt of electricity searing through her body, jerking her rigid, her teeth clenching together so hard it felt as though they'd shatter.

Images burned into her brain. Flashes of death and unimaginable horror tore through her mind as synthetic beings straight out of nightmares that left the dreamer mad and drooling, destroyed everything. Absolute desolation. Utter annihilation. They corrupted everything they touched. Then another blast of energy ripped through her and merciful darkness fell.


	3. Chapter 3

The world came into focus slowly. Standard issue starship ceiling, concerned face of a standard issue Alliance medical officer, then the very pissed-off face of a turian. Shepard sighed. Kryik had to be seriously furious for his temper to show through the rigid plates.

"You're welcome," she groaned, sitting up.

"What?" The word hit her like a slap, along with some spit.

"Sorry, just figured the reason you were hanging over me is that you couldn't wait to thank me for saving your ass when the beacon grabbed you." She swung her legs off the side of the bed and dropped her head into her hands. It felt as though a hundred squirrels had gone rampaging through her brain searching for nuts. Normally she had lots to spare, but whatever the beacon had done to her had replaced them all with nightmares.

Shepard looked to the doctor. "How long have I been out?"

"Fifteen hours," Nihlus supplied. "When you threw me out of the way, the beacon grabbed you. What happened in those seconds, Commander?"

Shepard shook her head, both because she wasn't sure and she was trying to order her thoughts. "It hit me with a vision. Maybe it was a dream. Synthetics killing organics. Mass slaughter. There were also organics being fit with cybernetics or something. That part was . . . gooey. I don't know, it's all a jumble. All I can tell you for sure was that there was a terrible sense of doom and terror. It was the message of a dying people."

"Why didn't you just leave me alone?" Nihlus demanded. "Maybe it would have been just fine."

"And maybe you'd be waking up here with this crap in your head. Oh, wait . . . no, you wouldn't be, because if I'd let you have your way, Saren would have blown your head off before we got close to the beacon. So, maybe get off my back a little." She slid down to stand.

Nihlus let out a long sigh. "Saren was my mentor. I never imagined . . .." He shook his head. "Afterward, I needed to catch him and find out what he was doing there . . . put a bullet in him."

"Yeah, well, we don't always get what we want, do we?" She kept her tone soft.

"Great!" Nihlus spun on his heel and strode to the door. He turned back before walking through. "You interfere with the beacon, get it blown to hell, and that's what you have to show for your incompetence? A vision of . . . nothing."

"Me? My incompetence?" Shepard stormed after him, pressing in on him. "You're the idiot who charged ahead again after I saved you from the fuckup you caused when you charged ahead the first time. Did it hurt your ego that the little, fragile female human had to save you? Hurt that bloody stick-up-your-ass pride that Saren completely pulled the wool over your eyes?" She scoffed and turned away. "My incompetence. I spent the whole damned mission saving your ass."

Shepard stalked back to the table and moved to hop up on it, but a large, long-taloned hand grabbed her arm, jerking her around to face the Spectre. He pushed in on her, trapping her up against the table.

"Unless you want to find out what it feels like to have a tiny, human female peel back your plates, you'd better be hitting on me, Kryik," she said, her voice a low, dangerous growl. As intended, her remark startled him enough that he gave her room to push back.

"You need to watch your mouth, Shepard," he grumbled, then released her and turned away. "I'm used to working on my own, not sticking with a squad. Saren . . . I screwed up, bought what he told me about why he was there."

She watched him from under half-closed eyelids as he gathered the shreds of his dignity tight around him and backed away. One corner of her mouth twitched up in a reluctant smile. She didn't expect him to own as much of the screw up as he was.

Still, she couldn't resist the urge to prod him a little. "Or what? You'll blame the beacon being destroyed on me? Make sure I never become a Spectre?" She hopped up onto the side of the bed. "Yeah, I think that's pretty much covered, don't you?" Shepard shook her head and reached up to run her hand through her short, red curls. "That's all but covered," she repeated softly.

He walked out the door.

"And, Kryik ... you're welcome. It was my pleasure to have your back," Shepard called after him. "Just so that you know … you can count on me having it, no matter how big an ass you are." She softened the last sentence, taking the sarcastic edge out of her voice. She did want him to know he could trust her to have his six. "And thanks for hauling my ass back here. It's appreciated."

He glanced over his shoulder, his mandibles fluttering a little, and he rumbled low in his throat. After a moment, he nodded once, then continued toward the stairs up to the CIC.

A moment later, the doors opened again, Anderson striding through, all hard-edged efficiency. "What the hell happened down there, Shepard?"

"The mission was FUBAR, Captain." Shepard hopped down off the table. "Intel dropped the ball completely. The colony was swarming with geth, all working for Saren, one of the council's Spectres. He almost killed Kryik. I sniped him, but he bolted before I could take him down. By the time I got our Spectre back up on his feet, Saren had a massive head start.

"He slowed us down further with enough demo charges to flatten the colony. By the time we reached the beacon, he'd activated it. The damned thing grabbed a hold of Kryik when we finally got there, started pulling him toward it. I grabbed him and threw him loose, but then the fucking thing hit me with some sort of mind blast. Knocked me cold and left a vision of a synthetic-led armageddon behind." She shrugged. "Some seriously crazy shit is going on here, sir. Seriously crazy shit. Kryik seemed just as blind as we were, but that other Spectre …."

Anderson nodded and paced back and forth across the narrow med bay. "Saren. I know him. He's about as bad as news gets. Hates humans. He thinks we need to be sent back to Earth like unruly children."

"Well, he wanted that beacon in the worst way. He wasn't there to spank some humans. That was just a fortunate side effect." She shook her head. "Council's going to be pissed as hell. Kryik might be able to mitigate that a little, but they're going to use this to slap us back as hard as they can."

Uttering a grumbling sigh, Anderson paced a few steps away and back. "You said the beacon left you with a vision? Of what?"

Shepard reached up and rubbed the back of her neck. Her ears still rang and her head throbbed like a large group of taiko drummers had taken up residence inside her skull. "I saw synthetics butchering people. It was a slaughter, literally billions dead. I saw other images, cybernetics being implanted into flesh … it's all just a jumble of horror."

"We need to tell the Council. If Saren wanted this information, there has to be a reason." Anderson nodded to himself. "Head up to the bridge, and tell Joker to bring us in to dock with the Citadel."

Shepard let out a long sigh and nodded. "Don't suppose now is a good time to ask you to send someone else to do your pickup on Eden Prime, sir?"

Anderson chuckled. "Way too late for that, Shepard." He strode to the door, then stopped and turned around. "And for the love of God, try not to torture Kryik any more than absolutely necessary. If he shoots you, there's going to be paperwork til doomsday."

"No promises, sir, but I'll do my best."

"Sure you will." He walked out the door. "I'll start the paperwork now."

Shepard grinned and leaned back against the bed. "Weird fuckin' couple of days, Shepard. Weird fuckin' couple of days." She pushed away from the bed and headed out into the mess. Spotting Alenko across the room, she detoured his way.

"Glad to see you're going to be okay, Commander," he said.

"Yeah, the crew would have cried endless rivers of tears had I bought the farm." She leaned back, cocking her hip and folded her arms. "So, you came back okay? No undue trauma?"

"Yeah. Can't say a mission under your command is boring, ma'am. Probably take Nihlus the better part of a week to file his report. You sure gave him a run for his money." Alenko reached up to rub his brow and rolled his neck.

"Headache?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, no big deal, just a side effect of my amp." His hand fell back to his side. "Shame the beacon got blown to hell. Council's going to use this to beat concessions out of the Alliance. Wouldn't be surprised if Kryik helps them along, even though he totally dropped the ball turning his back on Saren."

Shepard shook her head. "No, Nihlus is a good man, an honourable soldier. And, give him a break over what happened with Saren. He was Nihlus's mentor back in the day. Kryik had good reason to trust him." She shrugged. "Oh well, I'd better check on Williams and make sure Jenkins's stories don't get too wildly removed from reality. See you later, Alenko."

Williams stood by herself over against the wall by the door to the Captain's cabin looking awkward and about as uncomfortable as Shepard had ever seen anyone look. She walked over. "Hey, Williams. Welcome to the _Normandy_."

"Thanks, Commander. It feels a little strange being here, leaving Eden Prime behind." The Marine straightened and shook her head. "Sorry, Commander, don't mean to grouse. You saved my ass and the colony."

Shepard cocked a hip and crossed her arms. "Don't worry about it, Williams. Hell of thing you did, staying alive with geth blasting their way through the colony. You come back okay, no major holes?"

Williams nodded. "Yes, ma'am." She gave a bitter smile. "The bird sure fucked things up. Thought you might plug him yourself."

Shepard straightened, her spine turning into a metal rod of indignant fury. "That 'bird' has saved thousands of people and kept the galaxy safe from a hell of a lot over the years. I never want to hear our valued turian allies referred to in that manner again, understood? We all fuck up. The day we forget that and stop forgiving other people their fuckups . . . well, that's the day to pack it in." She leaned closer to the Marine's face. "Is that understood?"

Williams paled, her lips pressing together, angered, but seasoned enough to know that the next slap would be right off the _Normandy_. "Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am."

Shepard nodded and relaxed. "We're coming into the Citadel. If you've never seen it, you should get somewhere with a view. I've heard it's something to see." She gave Williams a tight smile and headed for the stairs to the CIC.

Greeting people as she passed them by, Shepard made her way to the bridge to find Nihlus already there. He stepped back as she stopped behind Joker.

"Hey, Commander, just in time. I was just bringing us in," the pilot reported.

Shepard didn't respond, stepping to one of the ports to look out at the nebula. "It's beautiful."

"It's the most impressive structure in the galaxy," Nihlus said.

Shepard threw a quirky smile over her shoulder and shook her head. "I meant the nebula. The Citadel . . . just a very large chunk of metal covered in people." She blinked in the face of his surprise. "A city is a city, Kryik. This one is just a little more impressive than the others." She grinned. "Now, there's a thing of beauty."

"Destiny Ascension, flagship of the Citadel Fleet," Alenko said.

Shepard listened to them discuss the asari dreadnaught, and to be sure, it was impressive, but like most asari ships, something about it made her uncomfortable.

"You weren't talking about the Ascension, were you?" Nihlus asked from just behind her ear.

She chuckled and shook her head. "No, it looks like something that should be trying to eat us." Her smile widened as he chuckled. "I was talking about the _Normandy_. Look." She stepped back so that he could see the _Normandy_'s faint reflection on the nebular dust.

"You have a problem with anything manufactured, don't you, Shepard?" the Spectre asked.

"Not at all. The great loves of my life are Roger and Ingrid." She straightened and turned to look into his eyes.

"Ingrid's the sniper rifle, so Roger must be the assault rifle?" He shook his head a little. "You're a strange human."

"Yes, yes I am." She sighed. "I don't hate what people build, I just think a lot of beauty gets trampled over in our attempt to show how impressive we are. I prefer things a little more understated." A wide grin erupted at her own hypocrisy. "Well, except for me. I'm far too amazing to go low key."

She headed out. "Well, might as well get ready for the firing squad. I can work on my report until we dock." Nodding to him as she passed by, it occurred to her for the first time that maybe, just maybe, having to work with the Spectre would work out all right.

She managed to get her report nearly complete by the time Anderson called her on the comm, tracking her down in her hidey hole in the back corner of the small gym.

"Shepard. Grab the ground team from Eden Prime and meet me in Ambassador Udina's office."

"On my way, sir." Shepard extricated herself from the corner behind the mats and headed to her locker to suit up.


	4. Chapter 4

"The beacon destroyed, rogue Spectres, geth attacking human colonies outside the veil." The human ambassador threw up his hands and stormed away a few metres. "You were sent on a simple pickup run with what we were assured was one of the council's best Spectres aboard. How did you manage to screw this up so completely, Captain?"

"Hey!" Shepard found herself stepping forward despite all her assurances to both Anderson and herself that she'd hold her temper. "The captain didn't screw anything up. Nihlus didn't screw anything up. That other Spectre did. He dragged the geth there to get the damned beacon. The only reason he didn't is because my team got there in time to stop him."

Udina turned on her, stomping over like a petulant child to shove his face into hers. She controlled her urge to punch him. Barely. She just narrowed her eyes and stared at him until he backed away.

"And yet the beacon is destroyed, and Saren escaped without any proof he was even there, is that about right, Commander?" His voice dripped distain. Her hand balled into a fist.

"Yes, that's about right, Ambassador." She made a show of flexing her hands, earning a grumbling sigh from Anderson. "When the beacon overloaded, it put out an EMP that wiped the recorders in our hard suits. However, we do have five people who witnessed the entire thing."

Udina's oily stare slid over the others. "Brought your entire crew, Anderson?"

"Just the ground crew from Eden Prime in case you had any questions for them, Ambassador." The captain kept himself so cool that Shepard both envied him and felt the sudden urge to smack him. She held the last one in check.

"I have their reports. I assume they are complete?" Udina looked at Shepard and curled his lip.

"Actually, Ambassador, I broke my giant pencil while I was writing mine up. Can I borrow the one stuffed up . . .." Anderson thumped her from behind, and she stumbled forward, almost landing with her face in Udina's chest. She shuddered and reeled back.

Udina's eyes narrowed with enough hate that Shepard checked her armour to make sure his scorching-laser glare wasn't burning holes through it. "You've done more than enough to endanger your candidacy for the Spectres and embarrass Earth. I suggest you stop while you're ahead." He spun on his heel and stomped to the door, still reminding Shepard of nothing more than a child throwing a tantrum. "Meet us in the council chambers within the hour. I'll make sure you get in."

"Me? I embarrass Earth? Have you checked that hair in a mirror, sir? Or that suit? Ooof." Shepard bit her tongue as soon as the words came out, but then of course, they had already escaped.

"Shepard," Anderson said, growling the words out between his teeth, "stow the attitude before you get to the council chambers."

"Anderson!" The ambassador's call sent the captain hurrying out the door.

Shepard sighed as the rest of the team walked up beside her. "I hate that man so very much, and I don't hate many people. I'm cheerful, easy to get along with, work and play well with others." She sighed again.

"Yeah, that's the exact description I was thinking, Commander," Ashley said, a sardonic grin on her pretty, but hard face. She stepped up beside Shepard. "So, we head for the council chambers?"

"Nah, Nihlus and I can handle that mess. You guys go do something that doesn't involve listening to idiots pontificate. Take Jenkins to a club, get him loaded, and take vid." She winked at the young Marine as his face turned scarlet. She reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Go to the embassy staff, see if they can help you track down your folks. Yeah?"

He nodded. "Thanks, commander."

"Come on, Jenkins," Alenko said, clapping him on the back. "We'll come with you. Can't hurt to have backup when trying to get the government to do something."

Shepard gave Alenko a grateful smile and a quick wink as the three headed out. When the door closed behind them, she walked over to the balcony railing and looked out over the presidium. It would be beautiful if it didn't all reek of artifice and politics.

"You going to stick with that story through the council meeting?" Nihlus asked from just behind her left elbow.

"What? That I didn't chase you halfway across Eden Prime and save your ass twice? Nah, I figure that I'll let you swing. I just want to see Udina's face when I change everything in my report at the last minute. It'll be a moment to treasure." She pushed away from the railing, feeling incredibly weary. "Let's go get this over with. I have a rejection as a Spectre candidate waiting."

"I sent my report on Saren back as soon as we got off Eden Prime. Hopefully they've started investigating him." Nihlus muttered and rumbled to himself as Shepard headed to the door. "I'd be willing to take the hit for letting my guard down if it meant having hardsuit data to prove he was there and what he was doing."

Shepard shrugged as she stepped over the threshold and turned down the corridor. "Fall on your sword on your own time, Kryik. For now, pull your balls out of your designer handbag, gird your loins, and man up." She turned to look him up and down. "Where do you keep your balls, anyway? Do you even have any?" The look on his face told her all she needed to know. "Hm. Interesting. Note to self: research this at a later time." She chuckled. "Ooo, is that why it hurt so bad when I hit you in the gut?"

Nihlus just sighed.

She led the way down the presidium, eating up the distance to the massive tower at a smart jog. As much as she hated the idea of having to suck up to the council all the time, being the first human Spectre would have been something. And, despite the fact that she considered Udina a lifeform slightly lower than slime mold, the fact that she might have embarrassed humanity stung. Still, she couldn't be worried about looking bad or even being rejected by the council. Whatever Saren had been up to on Eden Prime, she doubted it stopped there. Why would he recruit the geth to steal a beacon? It didn't make any sense. Maybe he wasn't the one in charge. It could be that the geth were controlling him somehow.

"Oh, cool." She stopped at the base of the tower and walked over to a big green bug with huge eyes. "I take it this is a Keeper?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at Nihlus. At his nod, she leaned closer.

"Please do not disturb the Keepers," the Avina terminal next to it said.

Shepard ignored it. "Hey there, little guy. God, you are just the cutest." She chuckled. "Look at the purple backpack. Okay, I just died a little. Damn, he's . . .."

"Please to not disturb the Keepers," the terminal said again.

Shepard stepped around the Keeper and crouched next to the terminal. "This thing's annoying."

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Nihlus stepped up and grabbed her shoulder. "Leave it. It's just an automated message."

"Yeah, and?" Shepard opened a panel and tinkered inside for a moment.

He pushed in closer, as if trying to hide her from view. "You're going to get arrested. There are a dozen C-Sec in the area."

"Yeah, and if you push your groin any further into my face, we're both going to get arrested for public lewdness, so back up a bit. Sweet baby Jesus." She finished, activated her omnitool to solder a wire into place, then closed the panel. Standing, she stepped around him and bent over to look into the Keeper's eyes. "Don't worry, little buddy, I've got your back."

"Can we just get up there?" Nihlus grumbled.

"Sure." Shepard led the way to the elevator.

What felt like a lifetime later, they emerged into the council chambers. Shepard whistled softly. "Nice. I'll take a room on this floor, concierge." She strode between the glowy, blossoming trees and up a set of stairs. She could see Anderson waiting at the next set of stairs.

"They sure want you winded when you get there, don't they?" she grumbled, trotting up.

"Please try not to be yourself," Anderson said, keeping his voice low. "Your Spectre candidacy is nearly dead in the water as it is." When she didn't reply, he elbowed her. "I mean it, Shepard. Keep the smart-ass shit tied down. These people don't give a crap."

"Fine," she said and growled. "I do have a small measure of self-control, Captain."

"Really? So, you've just been hiding it the last thirteen years?" He sighed.

"Well, yeah, of course. I was just waiting for the perfect time to spring it on you." She gave him a wink and walked up to stand just behind Udina.

The council stood across a wide gap from the platform that supplicants stood on, presumably to keep from being throttled by the aforementioned supplicants. Shepard glanced at the guns on her back, taking a buffet to the shoulder from behind. Apparently, either Kryik could read minds or he'd had the same thought about a few feet not making any difference to a bullet.

"Our colony was all but destroyed by the geth!" Udina wailed. "Geth led by one of your Spectres!"

Shepard looked up at a large holo of the Spectre in question. Saren didn't look like other turians. His hips and waist were all wrong, his fringe crazy long, and what was with the glowing eyes?

"Do you have evidence that Saren was behind the attack?" the asari councillor asked. "All these reports say is that another turian was present in the colony." The councillor's cool regard turned to Shepard. "All the reports other than yours seem to indicate that Spectre Kryik was culpable in his own attack, and thus for the suspect escaping."

Shepard stepped up. "I was a great deal closer to the incident than the others, Councillor. Spectre Kryik approached the platform at the docks. Saren stepped out from behind some crates. They spoke, and there was no indication that Saren presented a threat at that time. I saw him raise a pistol, but instead of firing, I moved to radio Nihlus to ask for confirmation. When it became apparent that Saren intended to kill Nihlus, I fired, but it was in haste and my shot went wide." Shepard took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, clasping her hands behind her back. "It's my responsibility that he got away and that Spectre Kryik was injured. By the time we caught up with him again, he had activated the beacon, but he escaped."

"One of yours, Captain Anderson?" Saren asked, his voice one part barely controlled rage, one part condescension. "Why is it that every time humanity accuses me of something ridiculous, you're behind it, and there is never any proof?" He threw a dismissive gesture at Shepard. "It's this human's word against mine, unless Nihlus has anything to say."

"One of these days, I'm going to prove you're dirty, Saren," Anderson growled, but the Spectre just laughed.

Shepard looked over her shoulder, then stepped aside so Nihlus could approach the end of the platform. She hoped he didn't do anything stupid, not after she'd just thrown herself on his sword.

"It happened like Commander Shepard said. I turned to find a gun pointed at my head, Saren and I fought, and he escaped. We followed him to the docking platforms and discovered that the beacon had been activated by Saren, who was just leaving the area. I pursued, but he eluded me." As he said the final words, Nihlus looked up at his old mentor with a cold fury that curled the corner of Shepard's mouth into a grudgingly appreciative smile.

"And what of the beacon?" the salarian councillor demanded. "We sent two competent agents to retrieve it and somehow it ended up destroyed."

"Saren activated it, Councillor. When I approached it, an energy field began to pull me in. Commander Shepard threw me clear, but was caught in the blast."

"The beacon gave Shepard a vision," Anderson called out.

"A vision of what?" the turian councillor asked. He shifted from foot to foot and clasped his hands behind his back, making Shepard wonder just what the council knew about Saren.

Shepard knew before she opened her mouth that there really was no point, but told them what she could of the nightmarish images.

"Am I to try to prove my innocence against dreams, now?" Saren laughed. "There is no proof of anything other than the fact that Spectre Kryik has been spending too much time around humans, and that his little protege isn't suitable to be a Spectre."

Udina jumped forward. "That is not his decision to make."

The asari councillor held up her hands, and Shepard was pretty sure she rolled her eyes. "This hearing is not to decide Commander Shepard's candidacy for the Spectres." She glanced to the salarian on her left and the turian to her right, both shaking their heads in a way that told Shepard everything she needed to know. They were screwed.

"We find that there is not sufficient evidence to prove that Saren had anything to do with the attack on Eden Prime or the destruction of the prothean beacon. This hearing is adjourned."

Shepard let out a long breath and looked up at the gloating holographic turian, holding the electronic blue gaze that drilled into her. Oh yeah, they'd be meeting again. Next time, he wouldn't get away. She gave him a slow wink and turned away before the hologram vanished.

"Well, that went awesomely, didn't it?" Shepard sighed.

"We've got to find proof that Saren's dirty," Anderson fumed.

"You don't have to do anything, Captain," Udina said, even more pompous for having been summarily dismissed. "Anything you found would be ignored as part of your grudge against Saren." He twisted his face into a grimace that said he'd rather tongue-kiss a crocodile than speak his next words, and looked at Shepard. "We have one chance to see you made a Spectre, Commander."

"Prayer?" She nodded and glanced around. "Sure, there's got to be a church here somewhere."

"I'll speak to Alliance brass, but I'm fairly sure I can convince them to go along with my plan. You'll be promoted to Captain and placed in command of the _Normandy_. Hopefully, if you look the part, and actually manage to discover some evidence against Saren, the council will forget this entire debacle."

"Captain?" Shepard laughed. "Oh yeah, the brass will love that. Most of them would have busted me down to Ensign by now if it wasn't for the frackin' Star of Terra." She looked to Anderson, quite proud of having managed to substitute for the curse. He just shook his head.

She pushed that aside and started toward the elevator. "Besides, you can't just cut Anderson out of this. What's the deal between you and Saren, anyway, sir?"

He sighed and shook his head. "That's a story for another time and a lot of alcohol, Shepard. The Ambassador is right. I need to step aside, and the Alliance needs to get you accepted as a Spectre."

Shepard scowled, but choked back her arguments. "Where do we start looking for evidence against Saren?"

"I'll approach C-Sec," Nihlus said. "I have contacts who can tell me who was working on their investigation."

Anderson nodded. "Talk to Barla Von, a financial advisor here on the presidium. He owes me a favour, and he might have some information that will help."

"He's an agent for the Shadow Broker," Nihlus confirmed.

"Shadow Broker?" Shepard grumbled. "You all need to stop talking in code. It's getting annoying, and my inner bitch is starting to get twitchy."

Anderson chuckled. "Shadow Broker is an information trader. Very powerful. Talk to Barla Von, he might be able to help."

Shepard stepped into the elevator, the three males following. No one spoke on the way down. Udina was busy sending messages back and forth with Alliance command. By the time the door opened, he turned to Shepard.

"Congratulations, Captain Shepard. You've just been given your first command."

Shepard shook her head. "God, I hate politics. I don't want promotions I haven't earned, Udina."

Udina struck out toward the embassy, his nose stuck in the air. "Perhaps if you played nice once in a while, you'd be . . .."

Shepard ignored him, deeking over to the keeper. She leaned down and whispered. "I think I love you, cutie."

"Please do not disturb the keepers," Avina said, "or Ambassador Udina will spank you like a bad, bad monkey."

Shepard managed to hold in her smirk and keep walking, but she was pretty sure she heard Nihlus chuckling as she passed him.


	5. Chapter 5

Shepard looked up from her desk as knuckles rapped against the door. "Come in." She turned her chair to face Nihlus as the turian entered. "What can I do for you, Mr. Big Bossman?"

He let out a low, rumbling, clicking sound that didn't translate. "You could stop working so hard to be a pain in my ass."

Shepard wrinkled her nose and nodded. "Yeah, I probably could, and I might once we reach an understanding." She shifted around to rest both arms on the chair back, regarding him with an even stare.

He bristled, the deep green of his eyes flashing. "Oh? And what understanding is that?"

"That I'm not some raw FNG who will follow you around, hanging off your every word and begging you to let me worship at your feet." She grinned.

He chuckled, his entire posture relaxing. "Nor would I expect you to. I recommended you, because you're a pain in the ass. You don't do what you're told just because it's expected, and you aren't afraid to step out of bounds if the mission requires it." He gestured a hand toward the end of the bed. "May I sit?"

Shepard nodded. "Sure, knock yourself out."

He sat, then turned to look at the bed. "Why is this bed built for two people, but so that they have to sleep apart?"

Shepard shrugged. "The fun part only takes half a bed, and then afterwards, the bed gives the perfect excuse not to have to cuddle."

His brow plates rose and his mandibles spread and fluttered. "Does the Alliance encourage liaisons between their captains and crew?"

A quirky smile lifting the corner of her mouth, Shepard shook her head. "Quite the opposite. Fraternization is a court martial offence." She shrugged. "I'd never sleep with anyone under my command anyway. Makes maintaining discipline a pain in the ass." The quirky smile returned. "On this boat, I guess that just leaves you … and you don't like my bed."

He cleared his throat, but held her stare. "You can't help yourself, can you? You have to … push my ... buttons. I believe that's what your people call it."

"We're going to be partners." Shepard shrugged. "So, yeah, I want to know how you respond to stimuli."

"Keep pushing that particular button, and you'll find out." He met and held her gaze.

Shepard didn't look away, knowing he was testing her. She just cocked an eyebrow. "So, did you come in here to see if you could double-dog-dare me into having sex with you, or are you saving that for another day?"

He grumbled something that her translator missed, but she caught the gist of it anyway and grinned. She'd been called worse. Letting out a long breath, he stood and paced to the door and back. "Actually, I came to thank you for what you said to the Council. I was prepared to tell them the truth about what happened with Saren. You were right. I let my guard down, and I shouldn't have." He grumbled. "And I shouldn't have lost my temper and risked the mission."

"Yeah, I know, but of the two of us, you had the better chance of convincing them to take Saren as a serious threat. Who knew that it would be for nothing. Idiots." She looked down at her paperwork.

"They're cautious," he replied, his voice softer, conciliatory. "They are three people responsible for the lives of billions of beings from a multitude of races. Saren has protected the galaxy for a long time." He sighed. "He's done a lot of good. I wanted to be just like him, once."

Shepard winced, wondering if she should even bring up her suspicion from the meeting with the council, but decided on full disclosure. If he rejected her idea out of hand, it would tell her a lot about their partnership. "I thought I saw something pass between the turian councillor and Saren near the end of the hearing." As she said the words, she felt stupid for saying them, but then before he could respond, she asked, "Why would they take his word over yours? Of the two of you, you have the cleanest record."

Nihlus winced enough for her to know that he'd asked himself the same question.

"What if they're covering for him?" she pushed. "Will any evidence we bring forward convince them?" When he didn't answer, Shepard nodded and gestured for him to take a seat again. "So . . . Saren. Attacking colonies to steal prothean tech is new, but his hatred of humans isn't." She looked up, holding him with a frank stare. "Right?"

He nodded. "Yes."

She watched him, trying to read his body language. Trying to read turian faces proved to be an unreliable source of information, but body language translated a lot closer to parity. She kept poking him to read him, and grudgingly, he was teaching her. Saren's betrayal wounded him, but more than that, it had thrown everything he knew and believed off center. She needed to play it cool with him as much as she enjoyed tossing him around. It wouldn't take much to tip him off his fulcrum.

Even though it pained her, she decided to play it straight. "Do you know where it comes from? Is it just a race thing, or is there more to it?"

"He's had some bad run-ins with humans. Saren's not like me, charming and talkative, so I don't really know much more than that." Despite his attempt at flippancy, his eyes stayed sad, almost lost. He hadn't had time to process anything. He needed quiet and a chance to think. Neither of which he would get for a bit. They needed to track down evidence on what the hell Saren was doing.

"At least we have some leads to follow. He can't be allowed to get away with this." Nihlus ignored her invitation and continued to pace.

"Hey, Kryik." When he turned, she nodded toward the bed. "Sit down. You're wearing out my deck plating, and it's new." He turned to look into her eyes, and she tipped her head toward the bed again. "Sit. This isn't something you can walk off."

He let out a soft chuff of air and sat. "What happened to the twitchy inner bitch?"

Shrugging, Shepard stood and moved over to sit on the bed, pulling a knee up between them so she faced him. "Meh, she's worn out. Udina does that to her."

He turned slightly, matching her posture. "You've had run-ins with him before?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I may have accidentally . . ." She cleared her throat. ". . . set his hair on fire at a memorial once. Stupid candles. His reaction may or may not have led me to make his life a living hell while we were both on Arcturus." A soft, wry smile curved her lips, leaving it to his imagination as to whether or not her story was bullshit. "So, what about Saren? How did you two end up as jedi and padawan?" When he scowled at her in confusion, she just blinked and shook her head. "Mentor and student."

He took a deep breath, the air whistling a little through his very flat nose. "The turian military has a Spectre training program for finding suitable candidates. I was chosen to continue on." He shrugged as if it were the easiest thing in the galaxy to get chosen as a Spectre. "Saren wasn't the best Spectre in the galaxy at the time. He was hard on me, showed me a lot I wanted to live up to." His voice dropped to a near whisper. "A lot I didn't."

Shepard found herself staring at the way the end of his nose moved when he talked, although she had a feeling that if she squealed over it like she had the keeper, he'd probably shoot her. Still, might be worth it.

When he stopped talking, she nodded. "It's got to feel like someone shot you full of polonium rounds."

"Doesn't matter, does it? All that matters now is making sure he doesn't do anything else." He stood. "I heard from my contact at CSec. We're looking for an Officer Garrus Vakarian. He was in charge of the investigation. However, he's since disappeared off the radar. My contact said he would try to find him. We need to meet Harkin in Chora's Den."

Shepard shrugged. "Nice place?"

He chuckled. "Sure, if your thing is seedy bars, tits shaking in your face, and overpriced drinks."

Shepard made a face. "Really not my scene. Never seen the appeal of asari strippers personally, and hell, if I want to see human tits, I just have to look down." She did so. "Yep, still there."

He just shook his head. "Hopefully Harkin can help us find Vakarian. If the drunk little maggot is just stringing me along, I'll rip his arms off."

Nodding toward the door, she said, "Come on. It's about the time places like Chora's Den start filling up with undesirables." She stepped past him, leading the way to the door.

"Do you know anything about Vakarian?" she asked as they headed across the mess area toward her locker.

Nihlus shrugged. "Not much." He fell in beside her. "His father is a legend on the force. Garrus has a reputation for being a hothead who doesn't think much of the rules."

"Oh my, a rebel. However will he fit in with us?" Shepard chuckled. She raised a hand and waved to Alenko over at his station. "Kaidan, suit up and fill your pockets with singles. We're going out on the town."

"Singles, ma'am?"

"We're hitting a titty bar, Lieutenant. Got to be prepared." She laughed as Kaidan blushed a bright red. "Whoa! Damp that down there, Alenko. I'm getting a sunburn."

Kaidan fled for the elevator.

"Wow, note to self: can't tease that one. He'll burst into flames." Looking over at Nihlus, she noticed the turian wringing his hands a little. She needed to keep him out of his head until they had time to sit around and talk him through everything. "So, Kryik. Why do turians wear gloves all the time? I've never seen one of your people without them."

"Social convention from interacting with the other races. The gloves make our talons look more friendly … less deadly."

"Really? Now you've got me curious." She nudged him a little with her elbow. "Come on, let's see the deadly." She shrugged into her undersuit, smoothing it out before starting at her feet, sealing her armour in place.

He chuckled. "You really have no sense of personal boundaries, do you? We only take them off around family and close friends." He pulled his hands behind his back.

Shepard gasped. "I'm wounded. After saving your life twice, and taking the hit with the Council, I thought we were working ourselves to a good place, Kryik … somewhere special."

"Spirits," he grumbled. "Fine, if you'll just shut up about us going somewhere special." He pulled off one glove and held out his hand.

"Nice." Shepard took it between both of hers, ignoring the small gasp of surprise that escaped him. "Not as hard as I thought. Calloused too. Love a man with callouses." She ran her fingertip along the sharp foretalon. "Very nice."

"No boundaries," Nihlus sighed.

Shepard grinned. "Maybe not, but now I know where yours are." She looked pointedly at his hand then winked at him and clicked her tongue. "Very nice indeed."

"I'm never going to know where I stand with you, am I?" He pulled his glove back on.

Shepard stopped and turned. "You will always know exactly where you stand with me, Kryik." She gestured back and forth between them a couple of times. "This little game ... that's just me figuring you out. When push comes to shove, you will never have a single doubt of where you stand." She settled her right gauntlet into place then jerked her head toward the elevator. "Let's get moving."

She got into the elevator and held the door, waiting. After nearly a minute, he strode around the corner and stepped in beside her. Looking up at him with a wry grin, she said, "You're loving the hell out of the game. You know you are."

He just cleared his throat. "You wield your sexuality like a weapon."

She nodded. "Damn straight. It's the only one no one has any shields against."


	6. Chapter 6

Shepard stepped out of a taxi at the closest transit station to Chora's Den. She could already hear the terrible, repetitive techno music. Sighing, she shook her head. "And me without my earplugs."

"We agree on something at last, Shepard," Nihlus said, brushing past her.

"Be still my heart. When do I book the church?" She walked to the door leading out onto the walkway. She held up a fist and took cover against the wall, shrugging Roger into her hand. "Hostiles galore trying to look casual just outside the door to the club." She crouched and rolled through the door, taking cover behind a railing. "It looks like a Thugs-R-Us convention."

"It's them!" one of the krogan yelled.

"No shit, morons." Shepard peered over the top of the railing. "Sweet baby Jesus, that's a lot of bad guys."

A squad of twelve turians, krogan, and asari started moving toward them, spreading out to trap them. She hit a small cluster of them with overload to take down their shields. "Kaidan, sabotage as many as you can manage." She waited until he used his tech attack then got up and opened fire. She stood and side-stepped down the wall, launching her drone into the middle of the herd to sew a little chaos. Roger had one down and another one just about flatlined when the enemy flanked them on the left, moving to cut them off from retreat back to the transit stop.

"We can't stay here, Captain," Kaidan called as his shields went down. He rolled back out the door and took cover.

"Yeah, I picked that up." Shepard followed, covering for Nihlus. Her drone expired in a flash of light, so she spawned another, drawing the attention of a couple enemy. Another half second later, her shields went down. Why wasn't Nihlus moving back?

"Come on, Kryik, pull back." Shepard heard the roar of a krogan just in time to somersault behind the Spectre and out of the charge. The krogan slammed through the barrier and tumbled down into traffic. "Shit!" Shepard cried. "That's some fucked up shit, there."

Two bullets hit while she grabbed Nihlus by the cowl of his armour and yanked him back toward Kaidan and the doorway. "We've got to retreat, get some cover, dammit."

He spun, slapping her hand away. "I decide when I retreat."

"My squad, I decide, or are you better at killing things when you're dead?" She kept Roger moving, trying to force the attackers to stay behind cover. A warp flew at her from the left, slamming her to the floor, feeling like every molecule of her body was being torn apart. When it passed, she stayed on the ground and crawled out the door before getting up.

"Damn, that smarts." She took cover behind the wall, trying to keep the bad guys off Kryik's ass.

"One of the asari down," Kaidan called.

"Good job, LT. Next time your lift is cooled, let me know, we'll combo one of those two krogan over the edge." Nihlus's shields went down. "Kryik, get back here before I shoot you in the head myself just so I don't have the distraction."

Finally, he backed through the door.

"Lift ready, Captain," Kaidan called.

"I'll overload, you grab him." Shepard leaned out and brought down the krogan's shields. He ducked for cover, but Kaidan was on the ball and grabbed him before he could get too far down. Bellowing, the enemy brute sailed through the air, and then fell down through the traffic lanes.

"The enemy are at half strength," Kaidan called. "My amp is starting to get uncomfortably warm."

"That's are what guns are for, Alenko." Roger took out another asari as she tried to shoehorn her way in the door with a warp. One of the turians made it in the door, but Shepard barrelled into him, tossing his gun as she bore him to the floor. Shoving her hand under his jaw, she hit overload, glad that Kaidan had the presence of mind to shoot him since she was too busy electrocuting herself. When she recouped enough to blink, Nihlus was gone again.

"We going to start leaving him on the ship?" Kaidan asked, leaning out to sabotage the remaining krogan.

Shepard overloaded the krogan then peppered him with rounds. "This is getting old, that's for sure." She dashed out the door and behind the barrier to the right. "When your lift is ready again, Alenko, let's get this last krogan off our backs." She used her sabotage, turning Roger on two turians and an asari trying to make their way down the wall toward her.

A moment later, Kaidan threw himself behind the same barrier. They faced the club entrance, the krogan pinning Nihlus down on their right, the other three coming down the barrier on their left.

"Ready, LT? Let's clear ourselves a path of retreat."

"Yes, ma'am."

Shepard overloaded the krogan again, whittling down the shields he'd recovered, then Kaidan grabbed him. She turned Roger on the remaining attackers, buying Kaidan a little cover from fire. One of the turians went down, but the lift didn't drift the krogan far enough, dropping him almost right on top of them.

"Shit! Follow my lead, Alenko." She sabotaged the krogan's shotgun, then leaped up and ran past him, sliding around the corner and going down on a hip. "Fuck, I hate fighting anything that closes on me." She switched to Ingrid. "Try to keep him pinned down." She brought up the sniper rifle, aimed and fired, grinning as the krogan bellowed. Once the recoil settled, she fired again, keeping it up until the bruiser finally went down and didn't get back up.

"Too much like work," she gasped, switching guns again. She glanced around, looking for Nihlus, but didn't spot him. Alenko took out the asari. One left. The last turian held out a few more seconds, then went down.

Shepard sank to the floor with a grateful sigh. "Way too much like work."

Kaidan crouched at her side. "You hit, ma'am?"

"Only five or six times, LT. Nothing I'm not used to." She held out her hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet, then gave herself a shot of medigel. "Now where the fuck is . . .?"

Nihlus strode down the walkway, his entire posture screaming that he was itching for a fight. "Shepard! What the hell did you . . .?"

She stormed toward him, meeting him halfway. "Me? What the hell did you think you were doing?" she shouted. "On my squad, you stick with the rest of the team, follow fucking orders, and fight like you've got a brain inside that skull, goddamn it. You nearly got both of us killed."

He pushed his chest into hers. "Your squad? This is my op. You're my . . .."

"Oh, no." She shoved back, refusing to flinch back even when his face was suddenly a quarter inch from hers. "Get this straight, as long as it's my people backing you up, you're on my squad, or you're on your own."

"I do better on my own. I don't have to worry about you getting in my way or getting yourself killed." He tried pushing her back, but she just shoved into him.

"Then do it on your bloody own." She reached up and shoved his shoulder, a move that brought him towering down over her, one long taloned hand on the armour at her throat.

A splash of cold and wet hit her in the face. Her teeth clacked shut on her next sentence as it simply vanished from her mind. Sputtering, she stepped back and shook her head, looking over to where Kaidan stood, holding his water bottle ready.

"LT? Would you mind explaining yourself?" Her voice came out far more reasonable than she expected, considering he'd just thrown water on her like a sparring dog. She wiped the water from her face.

"I tried yelling, you ignored me. You two were either on the verge of beating the shit out of one another, or something I want to see even less. I did what I had to." He put the lid back on his water and stowed it. "We're here for a reason, aren't we?" He passed her a couple of tissues, then turned to start searching the bodies.

"Yeah, we are." Shepard turned to Nihlus and patted the water from her face and neck. "Tabled for a more appropriate time, Kryik, but this isn't finished. You're not putting my people at risk again. Two kicks are all you get at this can." She thrust the damp tissues at the slightly soggy Spectre, then joined Kaidan searching for evidence.

C-Sec arrived on the scene just as they finished their search. As expected, she found nothing linking Saren to the attack.

"Just once I'd like the bad guy to send notarized orders with his lackeys when they try to kill me," Shepard grumbled. "I, Saren Arterius, hereby command these thugs to kill Shepard. Signed, dated, and witnessed."

Kaidan chuckled. "Good luck with that, ma'am."

She grinned and shot him a wink. "Let's leave Nihlus to talk to the cops and head inside. We can watch ass while he kisses it."

Chora's Den didn't disappoint. Dancers and serving girls in various states of undress writhed and pranced about looking both jaded and resigned. Shepard glanced over at Kaidan, who seemed to be trying to look everywhere but at the ladies.

"Your first time in a place like this, LT?" she asked, trying to hide her smirk.

"Of course not, ma'am. I'm an Alliance Marine." Still, he couldn't even look at her, as if she may have suddenly lost most of her clothing as well.

"Yeah, sorry for saying it, Alenko, but you seem more the 'stay in the crew quarters with a good book' type than the 'getting sloshed and drooling over tits' type." She got her answer about the same time his face started on fire. She chuckled and clapped him on the back. "Don't worry, LT. I'm exactly the same. Got no use for places like this. Come on, let's see if Nihlus is done explaining the bloodbath outside."

The Spectre entered as she finished speaking. Nihlus looked around the bar then met her eyes and nodded off to his left. She answered with a nod, but let him go ahead. Surely, his contact would be more comfortable meeting with him alone. Instead, she took Alenko around the other way, staying back as Nihlus moved in on his man.

"What have you got for me, Harkin?" the Spectre demanded, glaring down at a dishevelled, balding man in a stained C-Sec uniform. "You find out where Vakarian is?"

"I got nothing for you, Spectre," the man said, slouching down into his chair. He belched, then scratched his stomach. "Get lost."

"You told me you'd have something," Nihlus growled, leaning over the table. "What are you playing at?"

Harkin laughed and leaned forward, not intimidated in the least. Probably too drunk to be intimidated. "Word is that you're not the council's favourite suck-up any more, Kryik. They're pissed, and they're watching you. I'm seen talking to you, I'm fucked for life." He tossed back his drink then gestured for another. "Find yourself another stooge, maybe one who doesn't need to get his job back."

Nihlus grabbed Harkin by the collar, lifting him out of his chair. "I've paid you well over the cycles, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be extorted, you maggot."

Harkin just laughed. "Yeah, well, good luck beating it out of me. There ain't enough credits on the whole fuckin' Citadel for me to talk to you. Fuck off."

Shepard sighed and walk over. Fantastic. She steeled herself, swallowed her gag reflex, and pushed between the two men. She peeled Nihlus's talons off Harkin's uniform and smoothed it out. "Gentlemen, is that any way to behave in front of a lady?" She winked at the drunken disgrace, then turned and lifted his drink off the waitress's tray.

Licking her lips, she met Harkin's unsteady gaze and took a sip from his drink. "Mmm, not bad." She passed it to him, then looked over at the waitress, using her omnitool to buy Harkin's drink and one for herself. "Have a seat, officer. Let a lady buy you a drink."

Harkin flopped into his chair, snagging her around the waist. "A lady, huh? There ain't many ladies in this dive." He tugged at her, pulling her over between his knees. "How about you sit on ol' Harkin's lap, and we have ourselves a good time?"

"Harkin, huh?" Shepard threw her head back a little and lifted her legs over his to sit, straddling his lap. "What sort of a good time are you offering, officer?" She turned to the waitress as the asari returned, giving her a nod of thanks as she took her drink from the tray.

"The kind where all that armour is going to get in the way." He reached up and grabbed her behind her neck, leaning in close enough that for a second, Shepard thought she was going to have to kiss him without a half dozen shots in her to kill the pain. Instead, he just pressed his face into her neck and took a deep breath. "Mm, you smell good. What's that perfume?"

Shepard shrugged. "Probably gun oil and sweat." She chuckled and leaned back, downing her drink in one. "So, what's your problem with Nihlus? Other than the fact that he's an uptight asshole?"

Harkin grumbled a little. "He paid well enough to be worth slipping him a little info here and there . . ." He burped, and Shepard had to turn away to get control of her urge to vomit as the stench of booze and stomach contents washed over her. God, she needed a raise. ". . . but now, word is, the council's pissed at him for fuckin' up some op." He blinked blurrily and pawed at her throat. "You've got a really long neck."

Leaning in to nuzzle along his jaw, Shepard chuckled. "Yes, I do." She nipped at his ear. "You say Kryik fucked up an op?" She laughed. "Idiot. He's always fucking up. Can't help it, I think."

"Ha! He sure did this time. He's so far out of the loop, it's tied around his neck." He cackled. "You might need to buy yourself a couple of sources of information a little closer to home, Kryik." Harkin nuzzled into Shepard's neck, but she could feel his salamander glare slide over her shoulder to the Spectre.

"What are you talking about, Harkin? What op was I supposed to have screwed up? Eden Prime? We saved . . .." Nihlus stepped forward, but Shepard turned, giving him a quick, hard glare to back him off. He stared into her eyes for a moment, his entire body screaming fury and impatience. She didn't blink. If he kept going, Harkin was going to shut down on them and then they'd be completely screwed.

She plastered a soft, seductive smile back onto her face before she turned back to run her hands over Harkin's chest. "All politicians are dirty," she whispered. "It's how they get into power. It's how they stay there." She brushed just her fingertips over his cheek. "I bet you see that sort of bullshit all the time in your job." Nuzzling into him, she moaned low and throaty. "The council and Saren are no different. Only a dumbass doesn't look out for himself. Am I right?"

"Whisper is that the council wanted that beacon," he said, his hand cupping her armoured breast. "We really need to get some of this armour out of our way, princess."

Shepard wriggled on his lap a little and leaned up into his hand. "Damned straight we do." She kissed the spot under his ear. "Why would the council want a stupid beacon?"

"No idea, but that's the buzz. My guess would be that they're trying to keep everything prothean to themselves. Don't give the humans any more power." He snorted and reached around her to grab his drink, tossing it back in a single swallow. After slamming it back on the table, he stroked his fingers around her ear. "Keep them in their place, just like me."

Shepard leaned into his touch. "So what's this Garrus guy's deal? He in the council's pocket too?"

Harkin let out a belching laugh that reeked worse than the first one. "Vakarian? No way. He's got that whole honour stick shoved way too far up his ass for that. Hell, he doesn't even lift loose credits chits at crime scenes." He shook his head and leaned in to kiss her, his tongue dragging along her bottom lip.

She covered her wretching gag with a purr and lifted into him again. "So, why's he in the wind?"

"He's still investigating Saren. Thinks it'll get him a pat on the head from dear old dad if he brings down a Spectre. Last I heard, someone saw him headed for Dr. Michel's clinic over in the wards. Something about a quarian runaway or something." He hiccuped. "Helluvino. Come on, princess, let's find a back room and get you out of that armour."

Shepard shoved herself off of him, tipping his chair over backward. "Yeah, about the same time as hell freezes over, asshat." She strode for the door, pausing just outside to reach back to Kaidan. "Alenko, disinfectant wipes, anything."

He rummaged through his pack, taking long enough that she started snapping her fingers. "Come on, I'm five seconds from dumping my lunch all over the damned floor."

He passed her a package, and she ripped it open, scrubbing every inch of exposed skin until it glowed red. She scrubbed her teeth with a corner, ignoring the astringent alcohol, then spat into the wipe and shoved it back in the wrapper. "Thanks, LT. Come on, let's get this over with. I suddenly feel the violent need to yack." She gagged. "A lot."

Kaidan made a nauseated face. "Ma'am, if you don't mind me saying so . . . that was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen."

Shepard nodded. "Yeah, I know, LT. but suck it up. You're making out with the next one, and Barla Von sounds like a volus name." She grinned and nodded back toward the transit station. "Come on, let's find Vakarian and figure out what the hell is going on before the dissociation wears off, and I remember what I just did."


	7. Chapter 7

Shepard set the car down at the transit station and popped the door. She glanced back at Kaidan. "Give us a second, will you, Sport?"

"Is 'Sport' going to be a thing, Captain, or can I request something a little less eight year old T-ball player?" Kaidan asked as he climbed out.

Shepard grinned. "Sure, how does Sparky hit you?"

Kaidan laughed and pointed over to the far wall by the med clinic door. "I'll just be over there."

Shepard leaned back in her seat. "So, Nihlus, we both suspected the council was covering for Saren," she said softly.

Nihlus just stared out the front. "Harkin's not exactly reliable. He was intent on crawling into your armour at the time."

"What if he is reliable? Is any evidence going to make a difference, or do we take them whatever we dig up, only to find ourselves and the entire crew of the _Normandy_ on the wrong end of a kill order?" She looked over at him. "I need to know what I'm getting my people into here, Nihlus."

"We find evidence that they can't ignore." He got out of the car, his shotgun settling easily into his hands.

Shepard sighed and shook her head. "Shepard, the asari councillor left her poodle on Illium . . .." She climbed out and headed for the med clinic door, but before she palmed the control, she turned to Nihlus. "If we meet resistance in here, I'm lead." When he gave her a stiff nod, she hit the door control.

The door opened to chaos.

"Sweet baby Jesus." Shepard ran in the door, taking stock of the situation as she crossed the few metres of open floor. Five bad guys with a female hostage just head and to the right, and a C-Sec agent on the far left hand side of the room. Ducking behind a low wall, she shouted, "Kaidan, take cover at the end by C-Sec over there. Nihlus, draw their fire down the wall. I'll go for the woman." She launched her drone to draw off some fire, then overloaded the thug holding the hostage. The tech attack stunned both of them, giving her a chance to move. Leaping over the wall, Shepard grabbed the hostage and spun her behind some crates, using her shields to give the woman cover.

Surrounded and unable to find shelter from the hail of bullets, the small squad of thugs went down within seconds.

"Slick as shit," Shepard said, grinning as Nihlus came around the corner and gave her a firm nod. "Hm. Sterner stuff, indeed."

After making sure the last one was dead, Shepard turned to the woman, who remained hunkered in the corner behind the crate, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"Hey there." The captain crouched down in front of her. "Are you okay? What's your name?"

"I'm fine, just shaken up." The woman took a deep breath and nodded, meeting Shepard's stare with a far steadier one than she would have thought. "My name's Dr. Chloe Michel. Thank you for saving me."

Shepard stood and held out her hand to help her up. "It's our pleasure. I'm just glad we didn't sit in the car talking any longer. Sorry about the overload there. It seemed better to stun you than let him shoot you, but I know it stings." She gave the doctor's hand a comforting squeeze then turned to the turian at the other end of the room. "You Vakarian?"

"Yeah, Garrus Vakarian." He looked to the doctor. "Are you all right, Dr. Michel?" When she assured him she was, he turned back to Shepard. "And who are you?" He looked at the three of them like they'd dropped out of the sky. She supposed they sort of had.

"Comm . . . Captain Jane Shepard," she said, pointing to herself. "Spectre Nihlus Kryik, and Lt. Sparky Alenko." She ignored the exasperated glare from the LT., well . . . except for shooting him a quick grin. "We've been looking for you."

"Shepard? Kyrik?" Vakarian walked over to her. "You're the ones who were on Eden Prime?"

"Yeah, we were there," Nihlus said, stepping forward. "We're trying to prove that Saren Arterius was responsible for the attack. My sources said you were investigating him?"

Shepard looked to Kaidan. "Keep an eye on the door, LT."

"Yes, ma'am."

She looked back to the C-Sec officer. "Can you help us out?"

He nodded. "I was investigating Saren before we even heard about the attack on Eden Prime. I started hearing reports from all over the traverse and terminus of quarian pilgrims disappearing. When I first started making inquiries, I'd heard of maybe five disappearances, but once I started asking questions, the number rose to nearly a hundred."

Shepard watched him, staring intently into his ice-blue eyes. She liked him, she decided. He didn't have Kryik's 'never met a situation he couldn't defeat' arrogance, and still seemed to give a rat's ass. That alone was rare enough to be noteworthy. "So, why are you here? And what does a bunch of missing quarians have to do with Saren?" She thought for a second, wondering what a quarian pilgrim was. Her mind spat out an environment suited alien wearing a thanksgiving costume. "Probably not right," she muttered to herself.

The doctor cleared her throat. "I believe I may be of some assistance."

Shepard looked over at her and grinned: the doctor had pluck. "Okay, doctor. The floor is yours."

"A young female quarian came to me last last night. She'd been shot in the arm. Polonium rounds. Naturally, because of her weakened immune system, she was quite ill. She was very frightened, said she'd escaped from the geth and needed to find somewhere safe to stay and had information to trade for it." She looked at Vakarian, the expression on her face almost as amusingly adoring as Vakarian's was oblivious. "That's when I called Garrus, but before he got here, she took off, said she'd been told to talk to Fist." Her expression said she knew Garrus would know that name. He did not disappoint.

"Fist is low-life, bottom-rung loser in organized crime, but also an agent for the Shadow Broker," Garrus offered. "If she went to Fist for help hiding, she's just going to get killed. Fist's as watertight as a rusted out toilet."

"Wow, thanks for that mind-gem." Shepard shuddered and looked to Nihlus. "So, we visit Fist?" When he nodded, she started for the door. Part way, she turned back. "You going to be okay, Doc?"

Chloe Michel nodded. "Yes, thank you, Captain. I think it's an excellent time to take a few days off."

Shepard grinned. "Couldn't have said it better myself. Nothing screams spa weekend like being taken hostage by thugs. Take care." She pointed to Garrus. "Vakarian, walk with us." As she reached the door, Nihlus stepped up beside her. She looked over at him and gave him a wink, glad to see him checking back in.

Garrus strode up next to her. "You going after Fist, Captain?"

She looked over at him and nodded. "You know where we can find him?"

"He owns Chora's Den." He looked at her with an expression she decided to call 'excited puppy'. "Take me with you? I need to know where all this is going."

"Sure. You good with those guns?" She laughed when he just raised a brow plate at her and set his head at a cocky tilt. "Guess so." She palmed the door and gestured for Kaidan to fall in. "So, Vakarian, why do you think Saren is behind your missing quarians?"

Garrus made a subharmonic rumble of disgust down low in his throat that sent a tingle down her spine. "Saren is that cop everyone knows is dirty but who's so well protected that no one can ever prove it. When I started looking at the data, he was in the area near way too many of the disappearances to be coincidence."

Shepard opened the car. "Okay, so . . . what's a quarian pilgrim? I'm assuming it has nothing to do with turkeys."

Kaidan let out a coughing laugh, but the two turians just stared at her. She shook her head. "At least Sparky got the joke. Get in gentlemen."

Nihlus climbed in the front. "Quarians leave the flotilla when they reach adulthood, going on a pilgrimage to find something of value to take back to the flotilla."

Shepard hummed and nodded as she closed the hatch. "Okay, so coming of age." Lifting off, she sent the car zipping into the traffic lane. She added one and one and got zero. "Wait. Quarians are really tight knit, aren't they? That means we have a whole lot of frantic quarian parents somewhere? Why haven't we heard anything about this?"

"They're also very insular," Nihlus added, "and they don't trust council authorities."

Shepard cut a glance across at him and tipped her head, acknowledging that fact. "Yeah. Guess you get treated like dog crap on someone's boot long enough, you start to resent it. Go figure."

Vakarian made that grumbling sound that gave her goosepimples again. "Let's hope this quarian can tell us what's going on."

"Didn't we just fight our way into Chora's Den?" Kaidan sighed.

Shepard chuckled then groaned. "Crap, Harkin will still be there. Think I could plug him and pretend it was an accident?"

"Harkin?" Garrus made a rude noise. "They might just give you a reward."

Grinning, Shepard pulled the car into the transit station. "I like the way you think, Vakarian."

They heard gunfire before they even got to the door.

"What is with this place?" Shepard groaned, pulling Roger off her back. "Vakarian with me, we go in the door, take the left. Kryik, you take Sparky to the right?" When he nodded, she palmed the door control. "Meet you on the other side."

Once again, a door opened to chaos. Except this time the gunfire wasn't directed at them, but a massive krogan in red armour. After watching him in action for a moment, she waved her team forward.

"He seems to be doing fine on his own," Garrus called.

"He sure does," Shepard agreed, overloading the thug directly in front of the krogan. She winced as the big guy charged and the sound of snapping bones drowned out even the gunfire. She put the thug out of his misery as she passed him writhing on the floor. Launching her drone, she followed in the krogan's wake, finishing off any his shotgun didn't leave a two foot hole in the middle of.

"I want to be a krogan when I grow up," she grumbled. Bullets peppered her shields from the right, but a couple blasts from Nihlus's shotgun took the thug behind the bar out before she could even bring Roger to bear. She chuckled and gave him a nod.

She hadn't fired Roger more than ten times when they reached a gap in the wall leading to the rear of the club. The krogan waited for them there, leaning against the door.

"Nice work," Shepard said, walking up to him. "You clear a room faster than I do, and that's saying something."

The big guy straightened and stepped into her, his red eyes staring into hers from a couple hand widths away. After a second, he laughed, a harsh cough of sound. "Who are you? Am I going to have to kill you?"

Shepard grinned. "My name's Captain Jane Shepard, and I sure hope not. We're here to get some information from Fist. What's your story?"

"I'm here to kill him."

Shepard nodded. "Good to know. Personal grudge or just business?" She cocked a hip affecting a nonchalance she didn't feel.

"Business. The Shadow Broker doesn't like it when his agents turn on him." The big guy glanced back at the door. "Fist knows we're here."

Shepard chuckled. "Fair to say."

"Maybe we should get in there before he kills the quarian?" Nihlus suggested from just behind Shepard's shoulder.

"A very good idea." Shepard straightened. "We go in together? We get our information, then you do what you need to?"

The krogan nodded. "I can live with that."

Shepard palmed the door, then stopped dead, coming face to face with a couple of terrified men holding guns. "Seriously? WIth your hands shaking that hard, you couldn't hit me if you tried." She nodded over her shoulder. "Go on, get out of here."

They stared at her until she lifted Roger, then nodded and bolted.

"Guess we killed all the real guards Fist had," the krogan said, giving a satisfied grunt.

"You got a name, big fella?" Shepard asked, leading the way toward a door at the far end of the room.

"Urdnot Wrex." He punched the door control, striding in, completely unconcerned as turret fire pelted his shields. A blast from his shotgun took one out.

Shepard hit the wall and leaned out, overloading the shields on the other one, then finishing it off with a couple of shots.

A human male held a small quarian in front of him, a pistol held to her head. "No further, or I put a bullet in her head."

Shepard looked back at Nihlus. He traded his shotgun for his sniper rifle. She nodded, then hung Roger on her back and stepped out, her hands held away from her body. "Hey, we're here to talk. No one needs to do anything drastic." She moved forward, covering the wall to help block his view of Nihlus as the Spectre lined up his shot.

"Yeah right. Like you talked your way in here?" Fist backed up, dragging the quarian with him. "I know the Shadow Broker sent Wrex here to kill me."

Shepard shrugged. "That's between you, Wrex, and the Shadow Broker. I just need to talk to the lady." She glanced over at Wrex who was moving up on Fist's other side, and shook her head. A shotgun would take the quarian out too. They needed a precise strike.

"Who else is there?" Fist tried to look around her.

"Take a step to your right," Nihlus whispered in her ear. She did. "Your other right, Shepard."

Shepard stepped right and raised her hands a little, drawing his attention back to her. "Sparky, Vakarian, come on out where he can see you," she called, then stepped forward. "You're in control here. Let's just . . .." She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as a bullet whistled past her ear, slamming through Fist's forehead. The body stood there for a second as if it didn't realize most of its head was gone, then went down, dragging the quarian with it.

Shepard jumped forward and helped the young woman to her feet. "Are you okay?"

The quarian stood there for a moment, far more composed than Shepard would have thought, then nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you." She looked down at Fist's body, then just sort of crumpled at the knees.

Shepard grabbed her around the waist and helped her to a couch, sitting her down. "Good." She sat beside her. "My name is Captain Jane Shepard. What's yours?"

The quarian let out a shaky breath. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." She looked from one to the other. "What are you all doing here?"

"We were looking for you, actually." Shepard nodded toward Nihlus. "Spectre Kryik and I have been looking for evidence that another Spectre named Saren Arterius was responsible for an attack on a human colony. That led us to Officer Vakarian who has been looking into Saren too, but related to disappearing quarians."

"Eden Prime," Tali said and nodded. "I was there. An asari matriarch named Benezia approached me on Omega. I was just there to catch a ship to the Citadel." She looked to Shepard as if trying to assure her that she'd never normally be caught dead anywhere near a hole like Omega. When Shepard smiled and patted her shoulder, the quarian let out a long breath.

"The matriarch said that she and Saren needed my help. I was suspicious because of all the disappearances, and tried to get away, but you can see how well that went. Next thing I knew, I was locked in a room on a geth ship. I managed to bypass the door and hid. When the geth landed on Eden Prime, I escaped but the geth caught me and took me to the bridge of their flagship."

Tali shuddered. "That thing is terrifying. It whispers inside your head all the time. Anyway, they sent me back to the geth. I hacked my guards and used them to sow chaos while I escaped again. After stowing away on a turian cruiser and then a transport, I made it to the Citadel. Still, Saren's people tracked me, got a shot off in the markets. Hit me in the arm." She shook her head. "My father's going to kill me."

Shepard rubbed the young woman's back. "I think he'll be proud. You're resourceful as all hell, practically a quarian Houdini."

"A what?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Human escape artist," Kaidan explained.

"You were going to trade information for somewhere to hide?" Nihlus prompted. He crouched down in front of her.

Tali brought up her omnitool. "I managed to take some recordings while the matriarch thought I was unconscious on the dreadnought."

_"I got the information from the beacon,"_ a rough, flanged voice said,_ "but Kryik came after me before I could secure it for transport."_

_"And you think one of the humans used it?" a second, elegant, female voice asked._

_"Yes. The beacon overloaded. It's gone, and the data it stuck in my head makes no sense. It's incomplete. Jumbled. We'll never find the conduit without more information."_ Saren sounded as if he teetered on the edge between rage and madness.

_"We need someone with knowledge of the protheans."_

Saren barked out a harsh laugh. _ "You mean your daughter? How's she going to be any help? Suppositions and theories are all she knows."_

The calm, regal voice never wavered, showing no discomfiture. _ "Do we have other options at this point?"_

_"We need to pressure Rael'Zorah . . .."_

Shepard glanced over at Tali, both connecting the family name and the young woman's sudden stiffness.

_". . . convince him that the only way to get his people back is to give us the star charts. Maybe we send him his own daughter, in pieces."_

The recording cut out. Tali gave an apologetic shrug. "They realized I was awake, so I had to turn it off."

Shepard smiled. "It's way more than we had five minutes ago." She looked into the silvery glints of the quarian's eyes through her mask. "This Rael'Zorah, is the father who's going to kill you?"

Tali nodded.

"Okay. Give us a second, but don't worry, okay? We'll protect you from here on." Shepard looked up, finding Kaidan, nodding for him to come over and take her spot when she stood and headed back toward the door. Nihlus, Vakarian, and Wrex followed.

She grinned, noticing the two self-appointed new members of her squad, but then she looked into Nihlus's eyes and the smile bled away. "What the hell have we walked into here?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "They're looking for a conduit? Abducting quarian adolescents to pressure the Admiralty Board into handing over star charts? And what do the geth have to do with any of this?"

"The geth believe that Saren is a prophet of their gods," Tali called, drawing all their attention. She nodded. "They're ancient, powerful machine intelligences called Reapers. According to the information I hacked from the geth ship, these Reapers hunted the protheans to extinction and then vanished fifty thousand years ago. The geth think Saren can bring them back."

"Oh, and here I thought it was going to be something terrifying." Shepard shuddered as the images from the vision flashed through her mind, an ice cold chill slithering up her spine and into her brain. "Sweet baby Jesus," she whispered. "That's what the vision is showing me. The protheans being destroyed by the Reapers." Her eyes locked onto Nihlus's again. "But . . .."

"Why would the council be helping Saren bring back monsters capable of destroying everyone and everything?" he finished, his tone as terrified and bewildered as Shepard felt.


	8. Chapter 8

"So, what now?" Shepard looked to Nihlus for a moment, then turned to the rest of the team. "Toss this office, take anything that looks even remotely relevant, useful, or sellable."

"Sellable?" Vakarian asked, his spine stiffening.

Shepard met his offense with a softening of her posture. "Yeah, officer . . . sellable. I get the feeling we're going to be on the run soon, and we'll need every credit we can get our paws on to get us through. If looting from bad guys bothers you, then this is a very good time to get back to your beat." She pressed her lips together to stifle her grin at his reaction to the word 'beat', but try as she might, she couldn't keep the gleam from her eye. After a moment, his mandibles flicked, and he turned to join the others in their search.

Shepard turned back to Nihlus. "So, the next move . . .."

"We go to the council with her information. They can't deny that conversation." The Spectre paced to the door and back. "But if they are involved, they will know how much we know."

"Yeah, not to mention the giant-ass target we paint on our backs." Shepard shook her head and leaned against the wall, affecting a nonchalance that she didn't feel. "What about Rael'Zorah? With all these pilgrims missing, he has to have been investigating and trying to find a way to get them back."

"I insisted on going on my pilgrimage despite the disappearances," Tali said, her voice soft and filled with regret and shame. "I told him that I'd investigate and send anything I discovered back to the fleet. I thought . . .." She sighed and shook her head. "It doesn't matter what I thought. I failed, got myself captured, and now we're no closer to finding our people."

"Safe bet that Admiral Papa is hot on her trail. There's no way he's just sitting back on the flotilla hoping news of his daughter wanders past." Shepard's eyes flicked back to Nihlus, narrowing as she puzzled it through. Too many unknowns. "Okay, so this Matriarch seems to think her daughter is enough of a Prothean expert to hunt down. What if we try to get to her first? If she can help unravel this mess inside my head, it might be worth our time."

He nodded. "Be worth our time just to keep her away from Saren if she can help him." He growled low in his throat and raked his fringe with his talons. "We don't know nearly enough."

Shepard nodded and pushed off the wall. "Well, if Wrex is any indication, the Shadow Broker is not a friend of Saren's. Let's go visit Barla Von before the council, yeah?"

"Yes." His stance hardened. "Hopefully we find something worth trading to Von. The Shadow Broker's information doesn't come cheap." He brushed past her to go over Fist's desk.

Ten minutes later, they left the office and took a cab to the financial district on the presidium. Shepard got out of the car and headed for the door that Nihlus indicated. After a second, she glanced back and laughed. "Sweet baby Jesus," she sighed and turned to look at her motley crew. "We look like a bunch of evangelists from the Church of Galactic Brotherhood."

She raised her hands as if to bless them. "Brothers Kaidan and Wrex, Sister Tali, go see what you can get for that equipment, we'll meet you back here." She waved her hands over them. "Bless you my children, walk forward in the glory of the holy light of the Enkindlers."

They hurried off, most likely as to not be associated with the lunatic woman. She grinned and looked to Garrus. "Brother Garrus, alight yourself somewhere on high so that ye may keep the eye of righteousness fixed upon all the sinners walking this fine presidium. If thou be a witness to anything considered a sin before the Enkindlers, raise the alarm, brother." When he answered her with a hesitant nod and a wary stare, she turned back to Barla Von's front door.

Nihlus took the lead. "Church of Galactic Brotherhood? Really?"

Shepard nodded and headed for the financier's office. "I have trouble sleeping sometimes, watch a lot of very early morning broadcasts. The Galactic Brotherhood cracks me up. Started by a hanar who claims we should all come together into one great bloom-herd, flock, whatever-to spread the holy light of the Enkindlers." She palmed the door control as if anointing it. "You haven't heard the word until you've heard it shouted, well actually, very calmly spoken in third person, from the rooftops by the Father of the Light. Glory hallelujah, Brother Nihlus."

A volus wheeze greeted their entrance. "I was not aware either Spectre Nihlus or Spectre-Candidate Shepard had joined the bloom and converted to the holy word of the Galactic Brotherhood." A chuckle followed another wheeze. "Perhaps I need new sources of information."

"We have come here today to spread the great and glorious light of the Enkindlers," Shepard shouted, throwing rapturous hands over her head. She didn't miss Nihlus's wince. "Have you heard the word of the Enkindlers, Brother Von?"

"I have, Sister Shepard." He wheezed. "Everytime I meet with the Holy Father of the Light to transfer his new millions into surprising operations galaxy-wide."

Shepard chuckled as she tried to look stricken by the news. "Woe be upon you Brother Von for your lack of faith and inability to turn the blind eye of that faith." She looked around and wondered how many millions of the Father of Light's suspect credits had been filtered into Von's pocket, ready for a quick getaway. Other than a couple of computer processors and a desk, the room sat bare.

"Nice place you have here, Brother Von. Very homey." She stopped, planted her knuckles into her hips and nodded her approval. "It practically screams 'don't come looking if the markets go south, because I'll be in hiding on Omega'."

"Thank you, Brotherhood-clan." He wheezed and chuckled again. "That is the exact look I am going for."

Nihlus let out a deep, rumbling sigh, brushing past her none too gently, and strode straight up to the volus. "Barla Von." The Spectre towered over the volus, glaring down at him like a falcon who'd spied a tasty snack, but was letting it get a head start before hunting it down.

The financier just looked up at the Spectre then over at Shepard who hung back. After a moment, he took a breath. "Since I have already heard the holy word of the Enkindlers, to what do I owe the pleasure of your and your protege's company, Brother Kryik?" He gave her a slight tilt of his head. "Perhaps one of your bloom has gone astray?"

Shepard hid a grin. Clever little bastard.

"We need information, Von. What do you know about Saren?" Nihlus leaned on the desk, pushing in on the financier, but again, the little fellow just stood his ground.

"I know a great deal about Saren," he said and took a hissing breath. Shepard sighed and settled in for the long haul. It took volus forever to spit anything out. "Do you want to know anything specific, or shall I start at his birth?"

"Don't screw around with me, Von. Eden Prime." As Shepard watched, the Spectre went from seething to completely still, as if time stopped inside his sphere of space. The effect was unsettling.

"Downright creepy," she muttered.

Apparently the volus felt the same way, for his suit deflated a little as he let out a long, hissing breath. "You wish to know why Saren attacked Eden Prime?" He shrugged, his stumpy arms flapping a little. "You already know why he attacked Eden Prime. He wished to obtain the beacon. I do not know why he wanted it. He does not keep my counsel, nor apparently the counsel of anyone willing to share the information."

"What is the Conduit? And what does Saren want with quarian children?" Only Nihlus's mouth moved, but something rang through his subvocals that warned Shepard about what would follow the stillness.

She strode over and lifted a hip to sit on the edge of the desk. "Now, Brother Kryik, you're forgetting the whereabouts of those children, the whereabouts of Matriarch Benezia's daughter, and whether there is a decent Mexican restaurant on the Citadel." She made a show of thinking. "I think that's everything."

She leaned on her knee, getting down near Von's eye level. "It has been more than a year since Sister Shepard sank her teeth into a decent enchilada. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on the holy light and sacred word of the Enkindlers when all you can think about is beefy, cheesy goodness with tons of jalapeno peppers?"

Von waddled around to face her. "I'm afraid I do not, Brotherhood-clan. However, there is a mexican restaurant in Zakera Ward that vol-clan has heard good things about." He looked to Nihlus. "The whereabouts of Liara T'Soni, the daughter in question, are available for the time taken to do an extranet search and place a few calls."

"Glory hallelujah, Brother Von. The Enkindlers' light in strong in you." She threw her hands up again in benediction. "You shall be rewarded greatly in this life and beyond." She paused and shrugged. "I think. Not sure how that works exactly." She leaned back down. "So, you're pretty plugged in to this place?"

He wheezed and nodded, a movement that included his entire torso. "One must be if one wishes to predict fluctuations in the galactic markets. Information is power." He took a couple of breaths, and she got the feeling he was evaluating her effect on those markets. "You appear to be a woman drawn to power."

She shrugged and waggled her head. "Power, sure. Corruption, no." She gestured to encompass the the presidium. "I don't see the holy light or power here, Brother Von. Corruption, absolutely."

He took a step toward his desk and leaned his squat body against it. "Everything in balance Brotherhood-clan. How does one appreciate the holy light and virtue without holding it up against the darkness of corruption?" Breath. "Recognize good without evil?"

"And which are you?" she asked, sitting up, chin up, back ramrod straight.

Von made a half-wheeze, half-chuckling noise. "As with all things, Sister Shepard, I am a mixture of charity and avarice, good and evil, virtue and vice." He emphasized the last word enough to make her wonder if he was flirting with her.

Shepard jumped up, putting the desk between them.

"And Saren?" Nihlus asked, saving her from having to examine the concept of a flirty volus too closely.

"Saren is misguided, I believe." Von lifted a hand, little mechanical fingers working. "I do not know Saren's purpose in holding the quarian youth, if he is indeed holding them, nor where they are located." He paused for breath. "However, a member of the quarian Admiralty Board is on the Citadel, attempting to discover the answer to these questions." Von passed Nihlus a datapad. "He is in hiding, but should you check this location, you might discover something useful."

Nihlus snatched the datapad, the sudden movement startling Shepard with both its speed and promise of violence. Von flinched back, getting the message.

"Why did Saren want the beacon?" the Spectre demanded. "Out intel says he's looking for a Conduit of some kind. Do you know what he's talking about?" His words flew like daggers, the volus wincing at each.

Von shook his head, a slight waver lacing through his words now that Shepard no longer formed a buffer between him and the Spectre. "Not even the Shadow Broker has been able to ascertain his purpose, although it is whispered amongst some circles that he was to obtain the beacon for the council." After a long pause for breath, his little fingers ticking nervously, he said, "They do not wish the Earth-clan to get a leg up on the other species." His little, light eyes turned to Shepard. "They believe your people to be a grave threat to galactic peace, Brotherhood-clan."

"Sure, and nothing says get along and play well with the rest of the class like attacking our colonies." Her arms crossed over her chest, a defensive shield, as she cocked a hip, trying for relaxed, but the electricity coming off Kryik made that impossible. "Okay, but . . . the geth? I can't see the council climbing in bed with the geth no matter what."

The volus shrugged and tilted his head, waddling a step toward her and shelter. "Some things you will either have to discover on your own or for a fee, Captain Shepard. I'm a businessman."

Nihlus took a step that felt like a lunge. "Have you heard anything about Reapers?"

Shepard shifted between them again as Von shook his head. God, she hoped she didn't have to stop Kryik from ripping the little guy's suit open. The last thing they needed was to piss off the Shadow Broker. Who knew when they'd need his services?

"Rumour and superstition, Spectre, nothing more." He wheezed and took a step toward her, seeking shelter.

"Then tell me the rumours and superstitions." Nihlus returned to complete stillness.

Shepard's skin rose in gooseflesh, the hairs along her arms feeling like she'd been dragging her feet along carpet. Unseen lightning crackled through the empty room.

Shepard held up her hands, trying to keep it from striking. "Okay, our source says that they could have been behind the Prothean extinction." She leaned on the desk to get closer to Von's eye level. "I'll tell you what. You give us whatever you can dig up on them, and we'll reciprocate. Something tells me that we're all going to need a few favours in the coming months." She flicked her eyes toward Nihlus, encouraging Von to choose based on his own self-interest.

Von let out a long, wheezing sigh, his light eyes feeling as though they bored straight through her. "You're correct, Brotherhood-clan. I sense dark times ahead. The markets are uneasy as if something is stirring behind the curtain, unwilling to show itself." He wheezed. "Whatever I discover about Reapers will find its way to you."

Shepard practically pounced on the volus to interrupt Nihlus, and shook the little mechanical hand. "We have an accord, Brother Von. Whatever I discover will be sent to you." She emphasized the last word and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Glory be to the piercing light of the Enkindlers, and a good day to you, brother."

Nihlus led the way out of the office, the static storminess around him dying down to where she wasn't afraid to get electrocuted if she brushed against him. "Don't your people have a saying about making deals with the devil, Shepard?"

She nodded. "They're not recommended. Von, however, is far too practical to be the devil, glory hallelujah!" She tossed a companionable wink at Garrus as he sauntered over.

"I didn't mean Von," Nihlus said and chuffed. "I meant the Shadow Broker."

Shepard glanced back at the door, then to Nihlus. "I didn't hear anything about the Shadow Broker in that conversation. An acquaintance said that he would send me any information his discovered in exchange for mine." She shrugged and leaned back against the cab. "Like I said, Von's a practical fellow. You can guarantee that the Shadow Broker won't see anything I send Von unless the little guy needs something. A quick, secret way off the Citadel more than likely." She nodded and looked down the street. "We'll have some lead time."

After a second, she grinned. "We do a good 'crazy cop/bloody terrifying cop' routine."

He chuffed. "I wouldn't have done anything to hurt him."

"I never doubted that for more than a minute or so at a time."

Kaidan, Wrex and Tali hurried toward them.

Shepard popped the car open, then turned to look at Garrus. "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark, and you can smell it, can't you, Horatio?"

Garrus's mandibles fluttered. "Is this all some convincing act, or are you actually a raving lunatic?"

"How does quoting Marcellus from Hamlet make me a raving lunatic?" Shepard asked, sighed doing her best to look mortally wounded. "Honestly, Vakarian . . . I ask for your opinion as to the state of corruption on the Citadel, bringing a little culture into your life at the same time, and I get called a crazy woman."

Nihlus walked around to the other side of the car. "If the shoe fits . . .. I believe that's the phrase."

When the other three got in, Shepard settled herself in the driver's seat and shut the car before turning to Garrus. "You're the most familiar with this place, Vakarian. Does everything feel business as usual?" She paused, staring at him through narrowed eyes. "Or is there something festering under the surface?"

She watched him war against his programming, both as a turian and a C-Sec agent. Both demanded unquestioning loyalty to one's superiors, but then he sighed, and Shepard felt him settle fully inside the car with her, his side chosen.

"I've felt that something was off for just over a solar cycle. Odd orders, Spectres taking missions that didn't appear to need a Spectre presence. Colleagues who asked the wrong questions just disappeared one day, and we were told they'd been reassigned." He chuffed, his mandibles lowering. "I don't know what it is, but something's going on, Shepard, and it scares the hell out of me."

Shepard watched him for another moment, then nodded-one firm, resolute nod. "Welcome aboard, Vakarian." She looked to Nihlus. "All right, let's go find our hiding admiral and see if we can't figure out what the hell is going on here."


	9. Chapter 9

Shepard parked the car outside a hotel in one of the seediest parts of Zakera Ward. She looked around and sighed, shaking her head sadly at the humans and aliens drifting with the garbage along the street; just more refuse. "Nothing ever changes, does it?" She opened the top. Looking up the lines of the filthy structure, she winced. "So, this is where we're supposed to find a hiding quarian admiral?"

Nihlus got out. "I guess we'll find out when we get in there."

"True enough." Shepard turned in her seat, unable to hide a soft chuckle. "Little crowded back there, guys?"

When only grumbling answered her, Shepard nodded toward where Nihlus waited. "Wrex and Tali with us."

Outside, a turian stumbled and fell into the front of the car, sliding down onto her knees.

"Sweet baby Jesus." Shepard jumped out, hurried to her side and helped her up. She checked the female's breath for alcohol as she pulled up onto her feet. None. She checked her pupils, but they weren't blown like a Hallex junkie's. Judging by the way her clothes hung off of her, the turian was just starving.

"Are you all right?" Shepard reached into her hip pack for the supplies she'd stuffed in there just in case Nihlus needed them.

"I'm fine," gentle, harmonic tones replied. "Thank you."

Surreptitiously, Shepard slipped the ration bars and medigel packs into her hand. "Take care of yourself."

Releasing the female to go on her way, Shepard got into the car and closed it up before looking back at Kaidan and Garrus. "You in for the long haul, C-Sec, or are we leaving you here?"

The turian stared into her eyes for a moment, then his mandibles flared a little and his chin lifted. "I'm in."

"Good, glad to have you." Nodding sharply, she quirked one corner of her mouth in a smile before letting out a long breath. "Okay, we're going to need to split up to chase both of these leads down. You two get back to the _Normandy_. Do extranet searches for a Dr. Liara T'Soni. She's a prothean researcher, so I'd start with universities on Thessia. Make calls . . . whatever, just find out where she is."

Shepard's stare locked back on Garrus. "You have ways to cover your tracks, C-Sec? I don't want it to be obvious that we're searching for her."

"I can get us in some back doors," he confirmed.

"Excellent." She opened the car and got out. "Good luck, gentlemen."

Shepard waited until the car lifted off, then turned to Nihlus and gave him a nod, leaving to him to lead the search for the admiral. The Spectre's shock had worn off, leaving an understandable, but highly combustible fury to replace it. She wanted to see what he did with it. He might need to trust her with his life, but she needed to trust him with sixty lives. Better to find out sooner than later if that trust was well-placed. The whole Spectres do whatever they must and sacrifice whatever they must to achieve their objective was more than likely an exaggeration of a larger truth, but she wasn't going to gamble with the lives of her crew.

Looking down the street, Shepard swallowed the bitter taste that rose up in the back of her mouth. All those souls hunkered down amidst the filth, apparently as easily ignored as the trash piled around them . . . it made her want to vomit.

"Does it get worse than this?" she asked, stepping up beside the Spectre.

Nihlus strode toward the front of the hotel. "What do you mean?"

"The squallour. Are there worse places than this on the Citadel?" She stopped for a moment as she spotted a family half-hidden under a battered tarp.

He paused, his hand lifted to palm the door control. "There is a district much like this in all the wards. He glanced down at the family. "Not every story ends happily, Shepard."

The laugh that greeted his revelation came out bitter. "Wow. Thanks for letting me know." She sighed, then said, "It makes me sick," using the words to purge the subject from her mind. A mission lay before her, one she needed to stay focused on.

A glance at Wrex and Tali showed the former keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, the latter wringing her hands and looking like a child anticipating a scolding. She shot Tali a quick wink and nodded toward the now open door.

They entered the hotel and took the elevator up to the ninth floor. The building's interior lived up to its exterior, the overall impression one of terminal dinginess. She knew a hundred places like it, even stayed in a one now and again. Sometimes an N7 needed a place to hole up and heal for a few days under the radar.

"Wrex, watch the elevator," Nihlus ordered as they stepped out, then carried on to a door at the far end of the hallway. It opened onto the stairwell. Smart. Made quick get aways a little easier. Unless, of course, one was surrounded.

Shepard continued into the stairwell and down a couple of flights, just to be sure it was clear. She made it back upstairs just as Nihlus banged on the door. He met her eyes and tilted his head toward the door across the hall. Nodding, she activated her omnitool and bypassed the lock.

"Ready," she said, keeping her voice soft as she slipped her pistol off her hip.

"Yes? Who is it?" a heavily accented voice called from the other side of Nihlus's door.

The Spectre nodded to Tali.

"It's Tali'Zorah. Father? Is that you?" The quarian stepped in front of Nihlus.

"Are you sure that's your father's voice?" Nihlus asked, bending down to whisper next to the quarian's helmet. He sighed when she shrugged.

"Tali?" the voice behind the door called. "How? That matriarch abducted you on Illium."

"I wasn't abducted on Illium. Who is this?" The youngster looked up at Nihlus. "It sounds like father, but the voice is too muffled to tell."

The door cracked open, and Nihlus turned to check with Shepard. She just nodded and raised her hand to the door control.

"Where were you abducted?" the voice whispered through the crack.

"Omega. Father? If that's you, we need to speak to you." Tali stepped up to the door and started pushing it open.

Shepard pressed herself against the wall next to the other door then palmed the control. It opened with the slight grinding of metal on metal to reveal a dark, narrow passage from the door to the main part of the room. A closet and the bathroom door broke up the wall on the left.

Nothing moved. Adrenaline hit her blood like the first hit of Hallex. Her heart thumped quick and strong, her senses sharpening, extending out into the dark like hair-fine feelers. She bent her knees, crouching a little as she swung through the door. Left hip brushing along the wall, she entered, her pistol preceding her into the room.

Her finely tuned ambush detector went off inside her head. Someone was in there with her. She swept the closet door open. Empty. Another couple of steps, she pushed the bathroom door open, her stare straight ahead, only darting to the side for a second to scan the bathroom. It too stood empty.

Nihlus called across the hall. "This room is empty, Shep . . .."

The muzzle of a rifle appeared at the end of the narrow entry. Shepard dropped into a quick somersault, coming up underneath it, her shoulder jamming into the wielder's hands. Not giving him time to react, she shoved her pistol into his belly.

"I suggest you drop that," she said, keeping her voice soft.

Her assailant hesitated, so she jabbed the pistol into the yielding flesh. "Drop it, or I put a couple of holes through that very lovely suit."

The lights flicked on, blinding her for a moment. Her prisoner made a move for her pistol, but she grabbed the rifle and flipped the entire person over her head, tearing the weapon from his grasp in the process. He, she saw it actually was a he despite his being upside down, recovered quickly and flipped over into a crouch, apparently ready to take them all on.

"Han'Gerrel?" Tali asked, running over to help the downed quarian. "Han, where's father? What's going on?"

"Tali? It really is you?" the male quarian asked, his helmet turning toward Nihlus. "How did you get away from Saren?" He straightened, but stayed facing the Spectre.

"Geth were guarding my door, so I hacked the guards and escaped." She stepped between Nihlus and the quarian. "It's okay, Han, this is Spectre Kyrik and Captain Shepard. They saved me and are helping me . . . well, sort of. Our purposes have crossed." Tali turned to Shepard. "Nihlus, Shepard, this is Admiral Han'Gerrel, my father's oldest friend, and one of the Admiralty Board."

Nihlus moved toward the admiral. "We're looking for Rael'Zorah. Our information said we'd find something useful here."

Han'Gerrel sidled away from the wall, definitely still expecting to be attacked, but he relaxed a little when Shepard hung up her pistol and placed the muzzle of his rifle on the floor, leaning casually against it. He held out a hand, but she shook her head.

"You can have it back once we're all a little more certain bullets aren't in the forecast," she told him.

The quarian cocked a hip, giving her the most attitude she'd ever seen without facial expression or a middle finger being involved. It felt false though. Affected insolence to cover a very real arrogance. "Fine. Rael sent me a message three days ago saying that he was tracking Tali and the rest of the missing pilgrims." He snapped to parade rest, back cracking straight and rigid, his hands clasped behind him, mask jutted out at the chin.

Shepard pulled the inside of her bottom lip between her teeth to hide her smile as the real Admiral appeared.

"He told me to meet him in the room across the hall. When I got there, all I found was a heavily encrypted message telling me that he'd traced Tali to Eden Prime, and he would contact me when he found covert transport."

"Do you have any idea of why Saren and the matriarch are abducting your pilgrims? What they're doing working with geth?" Shepard asked. She lifted his rifle, cradling it in her crossed arms as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. All the running around just to get slapped in the face with another dead end had lost its novelty.

"All I know is that the Admiralty Board received a demand for all our star charts for five systems going back as far as we have records of those regions-hundreds of cycles. He's searching for something, and it's valuable enough to be worth the lives of our young people." His spine softened for a moment, his narrow shoulders bowing. Shepard's mind flashed to the image of ice cream melting, the cherry slumping from the top, but then the moment of weakness lifted. "He has not informed us as to the nature of his search, just that he will exchange the charts for our youth."

"Rael'Zorah was headed for Eden Prime?" Nihlus asked, the rumble that ran under his voice sounding enough like a growl that Shepard felt safe guessing he tired of the goose chase as quickly as she did.

"His message was dated two days ago. He could be anywhere between here and there." Han'Gerrel sighed, a short, sharp exhalation that stiffened his posture rather than easing it. "I must return to the flotilla. My people are under attack, and I do not have time to chase Rael across half the galaxy. The rest of the Board are seriously considering capitulating to Saren's demand."

Nihlus stepped forward, scalpel sharp. "You cannot give in, Admiral. We have no idea what Saren is doing, but by Tali'Zorah's own intel, it appears that he is trying to resurrect some ancient race that wiped out the entire prothean empire."

The admiral stepped into Nihlus, also sharp enough to draw blood at a touch. "And if he held hundreds of your children, Spectre Kryik?" The melting ice cream returned for another breath as the heavy accent cracked. "If the daughter you taught to walk, to whom you told just one more story, who learned to dance standing on your feet . . . the bright center of your galaxy . . . was his hostage? Would you be so sure then?" He cleared his throat and straightened, but without the same steel.

Nihlus backed up a half step, allowing the admiral the space to regain his composure.

Shepard held out the man's rifle. "Give us some time, please, Admiral. If Saren can bring these Reapers back, the bright center of everyone's galaxy will be at risk. I promise you that if there is a way to free your young people, we will do it." When he didn't reach for his weapon, she stepped forward and placed it in his hands. "Can you tell us what systems he wanted charts for?"

Gerrel nodded. "Of course, Captain Shepard." His omnitool flared to life. "I sent you everything I have. You managed to return one of our brightest to us, perhaps you can return the rest."

Shepard chuckled and stepped back to lay a hand on Tali's shoulder. "She returned herself, Admiral. We just gave her a ride over here."

Tali spun. "I'm coming with you!"

"Tali . . ." Shepard squeezed her shoulder. ". . . you should go home, help your people figure this out. When we round up your father, we'll send him right behind you."

"No." The quarian shook her head and planted herself, arms crossed. "You're not sending me home, Captain. I set out to find my people, and I'm going to see it through. You can either take me with you to make sure I don't get myself into trouble, or I can do it on my own."

A wide smile spread across Shepard's face. The kid had guts. She didn't miss Nihlus's gesture to refuse, but she believed Tali. The quarian would just set out on her own, and end up captured again. At least if she was on the _Normandy_, Shepard could keep an eye on her.

"Okay. You can come with the _Normandy_, but you obey orders. No matter what. If I or Nihlus give an order, your only answer is yes, ma'am. Understood?"

The young quarian bounced a little on the spot. "Yes, ma'am."

"This is a mistake," Nihlus grumbled. He loomed over Han'Gerrel. "Do you have anything helpful to offer, Admiral?"

Shepard shrugged and grumbled, feeling the truth behind his words in her gut. "Won't be my first."

"Just what I've told you. We have a wide net cast searching for any intel, but whatever Saren is up to, either he is keeping it to himself, or he has a hold over everyone who knows, and it's so strong that he is generating absolutely no chatter. Even Eden Prime is silent. The only thing that has leaked is that the colony came under attack by unknown forces."

Shepard frowned at that. Surely something should have leaked out. The largest dreadnought she'd even seen landed on the planet, geth poured out, and the colony was nearly destroyed. Damn, it looked like they were going back to Eden Prime.

She sent Han'Gerrel the information he needed to contact her or Anderson. "Please, sir, if that net brings in anything, let us know. We'll try to get ahead of Rael'Zorah, but our priority has to be Saren."

"Understood, Captain. Thank you." The admiral took Tali by the shoulders. "May the ancestors watch over you and bring you home, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Keelah se'lai."

"Keelah se'lai." Tali hurried to stand next to Shepard. "Ready when you are, Captain."

Shepard looked to Nihlus, who nodded and spun, stalking toward the door. Tali chased after him as if afraid of being left behind.

"Thank you again, Admiral Gerrel," Shepard said. "Safe journey back to the flotilla." She turned to follow Nihlus, but didn't have time to take three steps before gunfire shattered the air. The first rounds threw her forward, her shields going down with a buzzing whine as she reached for her pistol. Rounds impacted like fists, hitting her in the backs of her thighs and right calf when she dove for the bathroom door. One slammed into her shoulder, throwing off her roll and sending her sliding across the tile floor in a fat streak of blood. Adrenaline masked the pain for the moment, but set off her fury like a grenade thrown into an explosives factory.

"You're such a stupid, god-damned, fucking moron, Shepard!" she yelled, as she flipped over, trying to focus through the blood pouring over her eyes from a graze across her brow. She heard Gerrel's approaching footsteps like a countdown and brought up her pistol. "You deserve to get your stupid ass shot off. Never turn your back. Goddamn it!"

She wriggled to the side of the vanity, but other than wedging herself behind the toilet the bathroom offered no cover. The admiral stepped into the door, his assault rifle lifting from low-ready. She squeezed her trigger, her eyes morbidly fixed on his digit performing the same action. "Fucking rookie, stupid-ass, bullshit, goddamned move." The rounds left her pistol too slowly as his assault rifle roared to life.

"God-fucking-dammit. Sweet baby Jesus, I'm going to die on a fucking bathroom floor, after handing my murderer his goddamned gun."

Bullets slammed into her right calf and thigh. One to her lower stomach knocked the wind out of her, halting her diatribe of self-abuse as he corrected his aim, but then she heard the brittle chatter of an assault rifle and the harsh cough of a shotgun from behind her, and the barrage of bullets sinking into her flesh stopped. Her finger stopped convulsing on the trigger as the barrel of Garrel's rifle sank toward the floor. He staggered once, lifting it, then another cough from the shotgun threw him in the door and face down on the floor.

Shepard screamed more from rage at her own stupidity than pain. As the seconds ticked past, her lower legs started on fire, the pain roaring up through her body like dry kindling. Still, she managed to kick Gerrel's gun away from his hand.

"Shepard!" Nihlus gripped the door jam, swinging around it, hitting the tile on his knees. "Spirits, Shepard."

"Yeah, I'm fucked up." She leaned back against the vanity, suddenly as tired as she had been angry before. "Take his body back for Chakwas to look over. Secure his omnitool too. I don't want C-Sec . . .." She frowned as her thought just vanished.

"Turn the lights back on," she muttered, her voice slurring. Darkness crept in around the edges of her vision. "I can't believe that I gave him the fucking gun."


	10. Chapter 10

The darkness peeled back like someone pulling her eyelids open. A handsome, familiar face peered at her then blinded her with a light that stabbed an ice pick into her brain. Wait, someone actually was pulling her eyelids open.

Shepard jerked away, throwing spastic swats at the doctor, driving her back. "Sweet baby Jesus," she grumbled, her voice coming out like tumbling gravel. She swallowed and dragged her tongue over the carpet paste that covered the inside of her mouth. "Was anyone else hurt? And damn, Doc. Maybe let someone wake up before you peel their eyelids back and give them the ice pick in the eye treatment."

Dr. Chakwas folded her arms across her chest. "I'll remember that for the next time you get yourself shot thirty-one times." She sighed. "But, no, Captain, no one else was injured. Nihlus, Tali'Zorah, and Urdnot Wrex all escaped injury. Apparently, you're as greedy as you are obstinate and kept all the bullets for yourself." She held something up between her index finger and thumb. "And a bug."

Shepard took it, wincing as she extended her bad arm. "Ah. Nice. Thanks." She sat up, grinding her teeth to keep from groaning. "How long?" She braced her hands against the edge of the bed and leaned forward, giving her body a few moments to stop screaming at her. After she passed out, someone must have tenderized her, hollowed her out, then stuffed her with tacks, broken glass, and sharp rusty bits of metal. If she found out who did it, they'd pay. Pressing her hand to the ball of the opposite shoulder, she rolled the joint, grunting as the muscles threatened to snap.

"A day. I knew from your medical records that you wouldn't stay in bed once you regained consciousness, so I kept you sedated until the worst of the damage had time to heal." The doctor leaned down, lifting the hem of the gown to palpate Shepard's right knee. She looked up from under shuttered eyelids, watching Shepard's face as she poked here and there, manipulating the joint. "Luckily, your legs took the worst of it, all relatively simple injuries to heal, except for this knee. How are you feeling?"

Shepard winced, her face scrunching into a grimace as the doctor's fingers sent a bolt of jagged pain tearing from her knee to midthigh. "Ouch! Dammit! For the love of the baby Jesus, Doc. Stop it!" She cursed and reached down to rub her knee. "Otherwise, I just feel like an idiot. I'm getting soft. A year ago, I would have never just accepted that quarian at his word."

When the doctor straightened, stepping back, Shepard eased herself off the edge of the bed. The deck plating dug into the soles of her feet. Every strand of muscle, tendon and ligament in her legs took her weight, trembling like overtightened violin strings deciding whether to break or hold. Despite a few twangs here and there, most held, saving her the embarrassment of landing on the floor between the doc's sensible shoes.

Good enough. Time to get her body working, drive it to heal. She didn't have time to convalesce. Tissues healed better with a shitload of medigel and blood racing through them. Lying around worked all the wrong muscles, gave her too much time to think.

"Got a uniform and some undies, Doc?" When Dr. Chakwas set a small pile of clothing on the bed in front of her, Shepard untied the hospital gown and slipped it off her arms.

"Okay, so what's the news on our dead quarian friend?" She hesitated, the gown hanging from her hand over the bed. "They did bring him aboard, right?"

"They did." The doctor leaned against the next bed. "I performed a thorough autopsy, and below the neck everything checked out. He was a perfectly normal, middle-aged quarian male.

Shepard shivered, the medbay air chill on her bare skin and dropped the gown. "Below the neck." The words sent a tremor of fear and revulsion through her, nipping at the heels of the chill. She stepped into her panties. "Do I want to know what that means?"

The door opened behind her. Shooting a glance over her shoulder, Shepard nodded to Nihlus before turning her attention back to the doctor. "So, above the neck?" She slipped her bra up her arms and tugged it down over her breasts, but she couldn't convince her bad shoulder to reach around behind her to do it up. Looking back at Nihlus, she cocked an eyebrow. "Could you give me a hand?"

He started to step forward, then lurched to a halt.

"What? Do you know how to do it?" He nodded, so she shrugged. "Then what?" Following his stare, she realized his issue. "That's an old wound," she said, referring to the ten inch band of dark pink scar tissue that ran down her right side from her shoulder blade to kidney. "Seventeen year old drug addict versus her dealer. Split me open almost all the way to the front."

"You trying to break them up?" he asked, grasping her bra and quickly clipping it.

"No, I was busy beating the shit out of him for my Hallex. Well, and trying unsuccessfully not to get stabbed." She nodded. "Thanks."

She grabbed the trousers off the bed and shook them out. "Sorry about that, Doc. Report away."

"Han'Gerrel's brain chemistry was severely out of balance, Shepard, and I found severe lesions on his prefrontal cortex." The doctor rubbed her hands together, almost as if trying to wash them, her whole demeanour discomfitted.

"So, pretend that I left my neuroscience degree in my other pants. What does this mean?" Shepard pulled up her trousers and fastened them.

Dr. Chakwas looked as though she'd rather chew her own arm off than speak the words, but finally spat out. "It looks like mind control."

"Oh." Shepard sighed and nodded, tilting her head back and forth a little. "Makes sense. He appeared normal enough, but right now, we're one of the best hopes of finding their kids. Opening fire on me doesn't fit." She glanced back at Nihlus. "Maybe Saren got to him?"

The Spectre sucked in a quick breath, his mandibles flicking with the excitement of something, finally, making sense. "He could have been working with Saren for months, giving him the pilgrim's locations, keeping Rael'Zorah off Saren's trail."

Shepard nodded, her eyebrows arching in concern. "I just hope he didn't get to, and dispose of Tali's father before we got there."

Dr. Chakwas cleared her throat, regaining Shepard's attention. "My autopsy confirms that the changes in Han'Gerrel's brain chemistry and structure had been ongoing for about a year. Also, judging by the state of the lesions on his prefrontal cortex, he would have died within the next year."

Shepard stepped into her boots and reached for her uniform, but her attention was on Nihlus. "Did C-Sec and Sparky find out where Liara T'Soni is?" Shepard struggled to get her uniform over her head, but wrestled it down and tucked it in.

"Yes, she's participating in an archeological dig on the planet Therum in the Knossos system, Artemis Tau Cluster."

Shepard nodded. "Okay. I need to spend a few minutes in the gym getting my body to behave, and then I need to go ashore for a few minutes." She lifted her hand to her ear.

"Pressley, start clearances and preflight to get us out of here as soon as possible." When her XO responded to the affirmative, she asked. "How long are we going to have to wait, approximately?" She waited, then groaned. "Really? Three hours? Okay. Do what you can. Shepard out."

"Three hours before we can leave?" Nihlus repeated, letting out a chuff of air.

"Heavy traffic load, not enough controllers." She gave him a crooked smile. "Don't suppose Spectre authority could get us out of here in two?"

He nodded. "If you don't mind losing what small amount of anonymity we have."

"Three hours it is." Shepard looked over at the doctor. "Thanks for patching me up, Doc. Much appreciated."

"Keep coming in like that, Shepard, I'll just install an electromagnet to pull all the bullets out at once." Dr. Chakwas peered at the area above the bed as if considering the viability of that option.

"Ouch, Doc." Shepard winced and backed toward the medi-gel dispenser. "Harsh, very harsh. You're a cruel woman." She grabbed a couple of injectable packets then stepped out the door, turning back to grin. "I knew I liked you."

"Are you actually ready for duty?" Nihlus asked once the door closed. "You couldn't even do up your own bra."

"If I'm conscious, I'm working." She leaned down and stabbed one of the medi-gel packs into her knee, then the other into her shoulder. The pain eased from an eight to a five, and she let out a long breath of relief. "Much better. Now, I just need to get them working." She headed to her quarters, stopping partway across the deck to turn back. "You coming ashore with me?"

He hesitated long enough for her to guess his thought process. Strength in numbers versus keeping their eggs in separate baskets. She left him to decide and continued on.

"Hey, Sparky. Good work tracking T'Soni. Be ready to go ashore in an hour or so."

If Kaidan felt any trepidation at her being back to work, he didn't show it. "Yes, ma'am."

Ten minutes later, Shepard walked into the small gym space, stopping when she saw Vakarian kicking the living crap out of one of the bags. Leaning against the door, she watched, waiting for him to notice her there rather than drawing attention to herself. He moved well, strong, balanced, his skill obvious, but at the moment skill didn't appear to matter. Bare talons slit the heavy leather like tissue paper, rage and frustration expressing themselves in their purest form.

Wearing only leggings, he offered her first real chance to see what a turian looked like under the layers and gloves. She shook her head. It seemed as if when all the races met one another, they instantly decided that they all needed to downplay the physical differences. He was magnificent. Tall and broad through the shoulders, the layered plates of his chest and the smooth curve of his cowl a steel grey, tough-looking even though they didn't provide him much more protection than her skin gave her. Softer hide, like that at his throat, covered his belly above the waist of his leggings.

He broke off and threw himself back, bouncing on his talons for a moment, before bending over, elbows on knees.

"I think you killed it, C-Sec." She crossed her arms over her chest, a teasing smile lifting the left side of her face.

He spun, completely thrown for a second, then let out a laugh like a rifle shot. "You can bill me."

"Nah." She shoved off the side of the door with her hip and walked toward him. "That one can be your bitch. We'll just grab you a sewing kit so you can patch it up afterward." She bent down, grabbed the end of the weight bench between her legs and turned it so she could straddle it and still face him. "Have any luck with the admiral's omnitool?"

He nodded. "A little." He returned to kicking the crap out of the bag, but at a more controlled pace. "It's heavily encrypted, but between Tali and I, we'll break it." He hit the bag with an open hand. Having taken her share of boxer's fractures in training, she understood.

She stood and pulled the bug out of her pocket. "Can either of you two tech geniuses get this thing to send a false location?"

He stopped again, taking it from her palm, the edge of his talon sliding over her skin. She pulled back, scrubbing her arms with her hands to hide the gooseflesh before she embarrassed herself.

"Where did this come from?" He held it up, examining it with his visor.

"That turian female planted it on me when she stumbled into the car. Planted one on the car as well, not that it will matter. Saren can waste all the time he wants following that cab around." She stripped off her uniform top and threw it over the bench then moved to the mats to stretch. Groaning like a ninety-year-old porn star, she bent over, gravity gradually pulling her down until she could press her palms to the floor.

Garrus laughed. "That was a disturbing sound." He pocketed the bug. "Why not just destroy it?"

Shepard walked her hands backwards until her head made it between her knees, her arms wrapping around her legs. "I could," she said, grunting, her face twisting into a grimace. "But if I can send Saren the completely wrong direction for a bit, it might buy us some time."

Vakarian crouched down a couple of metres away, studying her with the expression of an interrogator. "You gave that female food, medi-gel, and water sterilization packs even though you knew she was planting a bug?" When Shepard nodded, he shifted his weight to one leg, his eyes narrowing. "Why?"

She shrugged then unwound, walking her hands forward into downward dog facing forward. "If she was desperate enough to accept money from a stranger to plant a bug on someone despite the danger, she needed the supplies." She dropped her ass, arching into upward dog facing forward, her back cracking like old twigs underfoot. After stretching there for a second, she looked over at him, finding him still staring at her like he could read her mind. "Little help?"

He chuckled and straightened, standing over her legs. Looping his hands under her arms, he hauled her up and set her on her feet. "Are you sure you should even be out of bed yet?"

She twisted at the waist, stretching her sides. "Yep. Don't heal lying around a medbay." She twisted the other way. "So, our prothean expert is on Therum?"

Garrus backed away and crossed his arms, the intensity in his stare never wavering. "Yes. I contacted the dig site a couple of hours ago, and there hadn't been any sign of geth, or anyone who shouldn't be on the planet."

Shepard tried to grasp her wrists behind her back, but her bad shoulder refused. "Little help?" He pressed his palms against the outside of her arms gently, just providing traction until she could clasp her hands. "Thanks." She groaned again as she lifted her arms, the pain almost enough to make her throw up, but she fought it down. "I need to go to the medclinic, grab a medical exoskeleton for each of our ground team, then we'll head straight there."

She released the stretch and pinwheeled her arms a few times, loosening them up. "Can you take it a little more easy on an old lady than you did on that bag?" She slapped her hand against her taut, bare midriff as she took her stance, bouncing a little to shut up her screaming knee. "Haven't got the hide for taking much abuse from the talons."

Taking a relaxed stance across from her on the mat, he shook his head. "Judging by the sounds you made stretching, I should wrap my hands and feet in padding."

Shepard stepped into him, hooking his ankle with her foot, throwing him onto his back, then pinned him with his knee pressed into his keel. "You were saying?" She wriggled her eyebrows at him and bounced her elbow off his gut, just hard enough to make him grunt.

"Ouch."

She jumped up, offering him a hand to pull him off the mat, then flew through the air, ending up on her belly, arm and one legged pinned.

"You were saying?" he asked, his subvocals rumbling next to her ear.

"Ow." She groaned as all her body parts fought to make their aches and pains known over the screams of their fellows. She gritted her teeth, shoving the pain aside, and bucked him off. Scrambling up, she backed away, a wide smile on her face. "Oh, I like a man who plays dirty." She cracked her neck. "Come on, C-Sec, bring it on."

A half hour later, Garrus released her from his pin and rolled over onto his back, leaning up on his elbows. "You grapple pretty well for someone in their nineties."

Shepard kicked him in the ankle. "And you grapple pretty well for a beat cop." She grinned, then sat up, crossing her legs. "How soon can you get that bug reset? I want to drop it off on the Citadel before we pull out for Therum."

He stood and held out a hand to help her up. "I'll re-calibrate it and have it ready in a half hour."

She nodded and grabbed a towel off the stack, throwing it around her neck. "Good. Suit up and be ready to go ashore in forty-five." She jogged to the door, snatching her uniform off the weight bench on her way past.

Stopping at the door, Shepard glanced back. "Hey, C-Sec . . .."

He looked up, brow plates rising.

"Thanks. You're not a bad guy . . . for a cop." She lifted one corner of her mouth in a grudging smile. One day soon, she'd peel him open like an orange to find out where all that rage came from, but for now they had work to do. She nodded toward the bag. "Don't forget to patch up the suspect before he lawyers up."

His mandibles spread a little as he chuckled and shook his head.


	11. Chapter 11

They heard the shouting even before Shepard reached out to hit the clinic's door control. Brow furrowing, she shook her head. "What in the name of all that's holy . . .."

"You draw their fire this time, Shepard," Nihlus said, shrugging his assault rifle into his hands.

She grinned and shook her head. "Thirty-one bullets doesn't get me a pass?" She glanced to Garrus who nodded, his sniper rifle in his hand. She moved into the center of the door to allow him to use the wall as cover to line up his shots. Since she was on fire-drawing duty this time, might as well make a show of it.

She palmed the door control and strode in. "Dr. Michel, that embarrassing, itchy, scaly rash is back, and it's spreading. I think I caught it from a krogan."

A krogan with dark blue plating spun away from the doctor, shoving her back into the corner. He pulled a shotgun off his back and brought it to bear on Shepard.

The red-headed doctor peered around the wall of thug. "I'm a little busy at the moment, Captain."

"I see that." Shepard strode around the divider. "Gral? Is that you? Damn, man. I told you that rash was bad news." Leaning against the post she crossed her arms. "If you're here to get some ointment from Dr. Michel, make sure it's not the same one she gave me. The rash is twice as bad as yesterday." Activating her omnitool, she got an overload ready, but also opened an extranet window. "I read an article that said this rash comes from varren. See? Look. Anything you want to tell me, big fella?"

Shepard glanced to Dr. Michel. "Is this the same sort of discussion you were having when I came in last time?"

The doctor's eyebrows lifted a little as she nodded. "Similar. Quite similar."

The krogan glowered at her, but shook off his confusion faster than she liked. "I don't know you, army. Get out of here." Dark blue eyes glowered at her from under his heavy brow. "This is none of your business."

"Gentlemen," Shepard said, glancing back. "Introduce yourselves." She overloaded the krogan, ripping down his shields. Garrus followed with another overload, then both turians shot the thug in the head while Kaidan sabotaged his gun then opened up on his chest. The krogan went down, roaring his pain and fury.

"Hold your fire, gentlemen, thank you." Shepard grabbed the doctor's hand, pulling her out of the corner and sending her spinning toward Garrus. She dropped on the krogan, burying her knee in his neck before she glanced over her shoulder at the doctor.

"Sweet baby Jesus, Dr. Michel. Do you collect thugs? I suggest changing to coins or stamps." Shepard leaned all her weight on her knee, staring into the stunned krogan's eyes. "You working for someone, handsome?"

"His name's Armistan Banes." The thug groaned and shifted, bucking under her, regaining strength as he regenerated. "That's all I know. Armistan Banes paid me to shake the doctor down, to make her an offer." Throwing Shepard back, he twisted and rolled to his feet, snatching up his shotgun. He trained it on the captain's midsection.

"You use that, you know my boys are going to take their time with you. C-Sec over there can put a bullet through each major organ while Kryik puts one through the base of your spinal cord . . . both of them." She crossed her arms and cocked a hip, giving him a moment to look over at the two turians with their sniper rifles sighted on him. "Sparky, the little one, he just likes to see how many body parts he can put a bullet in before you die." She shuddered. "He freaks me out, sick bugger."

Kaidan let out an indignant squawk. Shepard faked a coughing fit to disguise his ongoing grumbling as to which he liked least, being the little one or a blood-crazed sociopath.

After another second, the krogan hung up his shotgun, his hands held out a little. "Hey, I'm just hired muscle."

"Give me the frequency you were supposed to contact this Banes on, and I'll make you a deal. You keep an eye on this clinic, keep the good doctor safe and out of trouble, and I'll make it worth your while." She stepped up to him and held out her hand. "Deal?"

He stared at her through narrow eyes. "How do you know I won't just take your money and leave the doctor to get herself killed?"

Shepard stepped into him, butting him with a shoulder. "Because I believe you're capable of comprehending how unhealthy a decision that would be. That, and you only get paid if I get back here and the doc reports that she's never felt safer." She narrowed her eyes and stared him down with a practiced cold-crazy-bitch grin that snapped like cracking ice. "Couldn't hurt your cause to suddenly have an urge to fulfill your life's passion to become a candy striper, either."

The krogan backed up two steps. "A what?"

Shepard shook her head, suddenly weary beyond telling. "Get the hell out. And I'm serious about letting the boys have you. Keep the lady and her clinic safe." Waiting until the door closed behind him, Shepard turned to the doctor. "What the hell, Doc?"

"I swear, I've never had trouble like this before." She walked over and folded onto the end of the first bed.

"So, who's this Banes?" Shepard perched on the corner of the next bed.

Dr. Michel wrung her hands a little. "We worked together a long time ago." She sighed. "I wasn't proud of the work, so I left the lab to heal people." Jumping up, she paced a few metres then back. "My next employer caught me giving away supplies to small clinics like this one. They didn't want a big scene, so they let me go quietly, without charges."

"And if the powers that be knew, this clinic would be shut down, yes?" Shepard asked, leaning on her knees.

"Yes. Armistan sent me an obscene offer to return to our old research. When I refused-he'd only dangle that sort of money in front of me for my soul-he demanded that I send supplies, or he'd leak the story about the scandal." She shrugged and collapsed back into the bed. "But he wants so much equipment that I'd have to close the clinic." Fluttering her hands in a weak, helpless gesture, she let out a sigh. "It appears I have no choice, because I won't reopen that research. I became a doctor to save lives, not destroy them."

Shepard's sigh felt as though it started at her feet. "Don't send him anything. You have a dedicated bodyguard, or will, once he gets his first payment. Let me do some digging and find out what the deal is with Armistan Banes. Okay?"

The doctor offered a tentative but relieved smile. "Thank you, Captain. I don't know how to repay you for everything you've done for me."

"Well, to start, I need to buy four medical exoskeletons, then you could actually take that spa weekend and stay out of trouble for a couple of days." Shepard chuckled and stood, giving the woman's forearm a squeeze.

"Done." The doctor hurried to her supplies. "What model do you need, Captain?"

"The best one I can afford." Shepard looked through the supplies, picking up a medi-gel capacity upgrade and a couple of purchase licenses while she was at it. Never hurt to have a well-supplied quartermaster.

Shepard stopped at the door on her way out. "I mean it, Doc. Stay out of trouble. We're going to be around the Citadel for a couple more days, but we can't be watching this place all the time, just in case."

The doctor laughed, but followed it with a long, tremulous sigh. "I'll do my best, Captain. Thank you again."

When they walked out the door, Shepard headed over to the railing and stared out over the ward arms. "Big place." She sidled over next to a couple of asari and gave them a friendly nod. "It's my first time here," she said, heaving her shoulders in an awkward shrug. "Sort of feeling overwhelmed. It's gorgeous though, right? Just so huge. Do you live here?"

The closest one gave Shepard a pained smile and inclined her head, in a way that screamed, 'I'll be polite, but go away, lower creature'.

Shepard patted the asari's shoulder. "Well, that's super. It's been amazing talking to the two of you. I'm going to go poke a Keeper now, and see if they really do melt into puddles of goo."

"You shouldn't . . .." the other asari began, but her friend cut her off, mumbling something about ignorant colonials being better off in jail.

Shepard jumped forward, the rude asari letting out a little scream as the Captain grabbed her arms. "I love this place," she gushed. "Everyone is so friendly." She grabbed the other asari's hand in both of hers, giving it a hearty shake, then stroked the top of her head. "Ooo, those feel nice." Backing away, she waved, and nearly tripped over a volus. "Oops, sorry about that, my friend. As for you ladies . . ." She stretched out both arms to point at them. ". . . stay gorgeous. I'll see you."

Garrus chuckled as Shepard fell in step, turning back every few steps to wave to the still-staring asari. "Which one did you plant the bug on?"

Shepard just grabbed the inside of her lip between her teeth and tilted her head.

"The volus," Kaidan said under his breath, earning a raised eyebrow and a grin from Shepard.

"Very good, Sparky. You've earned an extra brownie with supper." Shepard opened the car and climbed in. "Come on, let's see if we can't get ahead of Saren."

When they returned to the _Normandy_, Shepard arranged for both a department and a team briefing before they arrived at Therum the following day. Taking a bowl of soup and a sandwich into her quarters, she sat at her computer to memorize all the information on Dr. Liara T'Soni, Therum, and Matriarch Benezia.

What she discovered about Dr. T'Soni didn't concern her at all. She was young for an asari, very intelligent, and dedicated to her field of study to the point of having no life outside of work.

What she discovered about Therum and the dig site concerned her from a team safety point of view. Lava flows, geological instability, and mines honeycombing the surface all pointed to a high potential for disaster that had nothing to do with Saren. She'd seen men throw grenades that ruptured pressure or steam pockets close to the surface. The results never proved healthy for anyone.

What she discovered about the good doctor's mother concerned her most of all. Powerful, wealthy, intelligent, a massive following . . .. she had the clout to raise an army, supply it, and buy any information or influence she needed. Shepard sighed and set down the datapad. The only connection she couldn't make was the one to the geth. Saren made sense in an odd sort of way, but the geth . . . where did they and their doomsday robot gods come in?

Knuckles rapped on her door.

"Unless you're that charming asari from outside the med clinic, I'm busy," she called.

"I don't think I could pull off that dress," Vakarian replied, "but I'm willing to give it a try if it means being able to deliver my report."

Shepard hid a wide grin behind her hand and shook her head. "Get in here, wiseass."

The door opened to reveal the turian craning around to look behind him. "I don't really have an ass, so . . .."

"True." She sat sideways in her chair and leaned against the back, arms crossed. "So, what can I do for you, Officer Wise-assless?"

He just strode over and handed her a datapad. "Here's everything I dug up during my investigation into Saren. Maybe you'll see something I didn't." Letting out a long breath, he frowned and nodded at the datapads covering her desk. "You planning on laying siege to the terminus systems?"

"Well, one planet in them, anyway." She shrugged. "I like to over prepare. Been on my share of missions that ended up FUBAR. If we run in like unprepared idiots, a planet like Therum is as likely to kill us as the geth."

He nodded and took a step back, standing with a cocked hip, his arms crossed. "I contacted the dig site again when we got back on board. They haven't heard from Dr. T'Soni in a couple of days, but they said that's not unusual. She tends to disappear for up to a week if she gets fascinated by something. They haven't seen any sign of the geth."

"Thanks for staying on top of that. Much appreciated." She nodded toward the door. "You got yourself something to eat?" When he hummed to the affirmative, she grinned. "Is there something else I can do for you?"

"Want an extra set of eyes?"

A soft, genuine smile touched just the corners of her mouth. "Thanks C-Sec, but as soon as I'm done scarfing down my peanut butter, I'm going to pass out. Rumour is that I took thirty-one bullets the other day, then earlier, this massive turian threw me all around the gym, so I'm going to hit the rack. I'll see you in the comm room at 0630."

Flipping a hand toward the door, she sagged in her chair. "Get some sleep. You did some good work the last couple of days."

"Thanks, and thanks for bringing me along, Captain." His head jerked in an awkward nod and he spun on his talons, striding quickly from the room.

"God save me from the turians," she sighed when the door closed. Turning her lights off, Shepard moved her dinner to her nightstand, then laid out on her side to read her reports, falling asleep within a few moments.


	12. Chapter 12

0515. Far too early. 0520. Way too early. 0525. Shepard opened one eye, looked around, then slammed her hand back down on the alarm. 0530. Alenko hammered on her door. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't slam her hand down on him to make him go away. She grumbled something obscene and rolled out of bed, missing her feet entirely to land on her knees on the floor.

"Ow! Dammit! Sweet frickin' baby Jesus. When did I turn ninety and lose basic coordination skills? What's next? Adult diapers?" She braced against the bed and shoved herself up onto her feet.

"Are you up, Captain?" Alenko banged on the door again.

"Sparky, if you want to keep that arm go eat your damned breakfast, and get your ass to the comm room for 0600." She flopped face first across the bed.

"Yes, ma'am. Good morning." He chuckled, and she could swear she heard him bouncing out there.

Morning people sucked. "New punishment protocol for perkiness before 0900. Take notes, LT." She didn't lift her face out of her blankets.

"And what is that, ma'am?"

"Firing squad. Now go away."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll have hot chocolate with extra sugar and creamer waiting in the comm room."

She opened her mouth to yell at him again, but she heard him bound away. Besides, she couldn't really kill her supplier before she got her chocolate fix for the day.

She managed to drag herself up to the comm room by 0555 and flopped in her chair. The heads of all departments awaited her, datapads held expectantly in front of them.

_Note to self: New punishment protocol for being overly punctual to morning briefings, also firing squad._

Alenko placed a large thermos of hot chocolate in her hand and sat in the chair to her right.

She took a couple of sips. Strong enough to stand a spoon in. Perfect. After giving Sparky a nod of thanks, she leaned forward on her knees. "Good morning. I know we haven't had a chance to get acquainted, and frankly, it's a luxury this mission isn't going to allow. We'll have to get to know each other as we go. If we're going to run Saren to ground, we need to get our asses moving and stay scalpel sharp." She paused to meet each set of eyes, waiting for a nod of understanding from each before moving on.

"I'm going to be off-ship a great deal, so all daily operations will be reported directly to XO Pressley." She looked at the older, balding man. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way, but he presented a credible, reliable face to the crew. She knew her limitations as well as her strengths, and her reputation always presented her biggest hurdle. Until the crew saw that she was a standup CO and had their backs, they needed security. Pressley could give them that.

"Pressley, what you think needs my attention, you bring to me. Everything else you have my authority to handle. Supplies, equipment . . . if we can easily afford it, go ahead. If it's going to be a problem financially, let me know, and I'll try to make it work." She raised her eyebrows and waited.

"Yes, ma'am." He preened a little.

"Daily reports, logs, requisitions all go to Pressley." Looking over at Kaidan, she sighed. "Except for you, Sparky. Your Marines will be providing back up and support on the ground, so anything that affects their performance, I know. This entire crew's safety depends on them and the team. Schedule two hours a day for the team and your people to work out together. I want the members of my ground teams familiar enough to read each other's minds."

"Aye, aye, ma'am."

She looked over at Chief Engineer Adams. "The IES is at peak?"

"Yes, ma'am. Stealth system, engines, all running at optimal performance," the middle-aged engineer reported, his back ramrod straight in his seat. "Tali'Zorah is a great asset, and has ideas about how to help mask our FTL doppler shifts. We'll be examining them and their possible execution in the new few days."

Shepard nodded. "Excellent. Thank you. Report directly to me on your results. I need to know exactly what I can ask both of this vessel and her crew." She took another long draught off her thermos and then stood.

"We're a lot more blind out here than I'm comfortable with, but if our current intel is accurate, Saren plans to unleash the same nightmare that exterminated the Protheans. Whether or not we have the Council's support, whether or not anyone believes the threat is real, we have to be the sentinel in his path." She took a few steps, her eyes on the floor in the 'strong leader faces an uncertain future' posture. "I'd rather be wrong and have the galaxy mock me than to take a chance that the Reapers exist, and Saren can bring them back." Looking up, she saw agreement register on their faces.

Pacing to the ramp out of the room and then back, she ordered her thoughts. "I understand that none of you know me well enough to trust me . . . yet." Spinning on her heel, she met the eye of each department head once more, spending a little longer locking stares with Pressley than the others.

"I also know that I have a reputation . . . well, more than one. Most of them are true. I'm known for pulling out the big win, but I'm also known for doing it in the way least expected. I hope that will give us an edge against Saren, but I understand that my unorthodox methods take some getting used to." She looked down at her boots. She'd dripped hot chocolate on her left one. Damn.

"One thing I am not is reckless." She pulled her polishing cloth out of a side pocket of her trousers and cleaned away the drip. Satisfied, she straightened, but remained silent, waiting long enough to speak that they all leaned in.

Letting out a long, resolute breath, she straightened her shoulders and gave her head a little nod. Her words came out soft, pulling them all in even closer. "There's one thing you can rely on with absolute certainty in these coming days, weeks and months: the safety of this vessel and her crew is my first priority. I will not risk lives unnecessarily. Losses on a mission like this are inevitable, but I will force that bastard to fight with everything he's got and make sure he pays a steep price for the blood we spill."

She sat back in her chair and leaned forward, elbows braced on her knees. When she spoke, she measured her words, letting each drop and settle before saying the next. "I will earn your trust. In return, this mission requires that I ask for every drop of blood and sweat, every inspired thought, every ounce of strength. If we don't stop Saren, Eden Prime . . ." She gave them a gallows shrug. ". . . well, Eden Prime will be known as the beginning of the end."

Straightening, she scanned the officers again. "Are there any questions?" When none presented, she nodded and gave them a tight-lipped smile. "Excellent. We are scheduled to drop the teams on Therum at 0900. Stealth system will remain active for the duration of the mission." Another single, determined nod. "Thank you all. Dismissed."

Kaidan remained as the others filed out.

"So, Sparky? How'd I do?" One side of her mouth quirked as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

"A solid 7.5 out of 10 ma'am. A little rough off the blocks, but you pulled it together." He leaned back. "This could get really ugly, couldn't it? If the Council is supporting Saren . . .."

Shepard nodded and took a long drink of hot chocolate. "Yeah, it could. We may well end up fugitives from everyone, because if Udina thinks we hurt Earth's chance to get a seat, he'll throw us to the wolves in a heartbeat." She shook her head. "We need to find enough evidence and get far enough ahead of the storm that the Council has to stand behind us even if it's just for show." She turned to meet his eyes and gave him a tight smile. "We can do it. Nihlus will make sure they have to listen."

Garrus, Nihlus, Williams, Tali and Wrex filed in within a minute and took seats. Shepard waited until they settled, then brought up the scans of the planet and dig site on the vid screen.

"Good morning. Our drop onto Therum is scheduled for 0900. Nihlus, Vakarian, Alenko and I will be dropping in the Mako just south of the dig site perimeter, here." She marked the drop location on the 3D surface scan. "The _Normandy_ will drop Williams, Wrex, Jenkins, Gladstone, Pakti, and Tenaka on the northeast side of the camp. You'll have high ground and a good view of the entire area." She marked their drop point on a high plateau.

"Williams, you're team leader. Your team is distraction and backup if the enemy engages. Get into cover and watch our backs. If we end up having to go into the underground portion of the site, move your team up to cover the entrance." Shepard looked to Garrus. "Anything further from the dig site?"

"Sitrep at 0600 _Normandy_ time was all quiet, but still no sign of Dr. T'Soni. I spoke to the head of the dig team, a Dr. Chandra, and she admitted that she's starting to get concerned. T'Soni is known for disappearing, but she usually checks in before now. She was on the far side of the mines from the camp. Chandra sent me the information on that area."

He stood and walked over to the console, circling an area a sizeable distance to the northeast of both insertion points. Keying in another command, he brought up a coloured overlay of the mines the dig team were using to access the ruins. "This area through here is geologically unstable." He highlighted a chunk just outside his circle. "They've sprayed polycrete to shore up the walls and ceiling, but Dr. Chandra says there's a chance that part of it caved in and trapped T'Soni."

Shepard nodded and gave him a tight smile as he returned to his seat. "If we end up having to hike two or three kilometres underground, we'll call for pickup from the back entrance here." She marked it. "That area is highly unstable, but on foot, we should be fine, providing we don't set off any large explosions."

"If you do call for extraction from the rear exit, we'll get the Mako back aboard the _Normandy_ once we get your all-clear, ma'am," Williams spoke up.

"Excellent. Make sure everyone has three days' supplies in their packs, just in case." Shepard met their eyes. "Any questions?"

"What about me?" Tali asked.

Shepard smiled. "Adams tells me you have some ideas for improving our emission masking going into and out of FTL?"

"Yes. If it works, it won't mask them completely, but it will shorten the length of time that we are visible to sensors." The quarian practically bounced in her seat, vibrating with eagerness.

"Excellent. I'll need you to stay aboard and work on that. One more body on the ground won't make that big a difference, but those few extra seconds of stealth could save everyone aboard." Shepard winked. "Don't worry, you'll have lots of opportunities to use that shotgun."

She looked over her team. "Anyone else?" A nod met their silence. "Then, I'll see you all down in the cargo bay at 0830, suited up and ready to drop. Dismissed." She waited until they left before following, not wanting them to see her old granny hobble. Before anything else, she needed to head to the gym and limber up.

Stopping in her cabin, she checked her messages to make sure nothing urgent had come up, then changed and headed down to the gym. She'd just stretched, taped her hands, and started warming up on one of the heavy bags when Nihlus walked in.

"Shepard." Her name tiptoed from his mouth, like a butcher picking his way through a pack of starving wolves.

"Good morning, Spectre Kryik. I trust you slept well?" She kept her attention on the bag.

He chuckled and stripped off his tunic, gloves and boots. "Well enough, thank you."

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, she studied the way he moved as he warmed up. "You didn't have anything to add to the briefing?"

"In my experience, briefings work well until thirty seconds after the drop. Nothing ever goes to plan." He moved over to the bag that Garrus eviscerated the day before and started slapping it with the same open hand technique as the other turian.

"It's true that plans need to remain fluid, but it doesn't hurt to have a framework for people to fall back on when things go to hell." She stopped punching and stretched out her left side. She pulled her arm behind her back, then over her head. "Care to work out against something that can hit back?"

"We have a mission in less than two hours, Shepard. Do you want to hobble through it?" Despite his words, Nihlus turned to face her.

She smiled and shook her head. "I didn't ask if you wanted to rip my arms off. I'm pretty sure we both have a sufficient level of control not to hurt one another." Pulling her arm across her chest, she twisted at the waist.

The chuckle that came out of him sounded bitter and raw. "Nothing I've seen from you the past few days gives me any confidence in your level of control."

"Oddly enough, appearing out of control actually takes a great deal." She raised her hands in front of her face and lowered her center of gravity into a solid fighting stance. Forcing herself into complete stillness, she waited for him to reveal his intentions first.

He came at her with a handful of slow, easily blocked punches. Her counter-attack slipped between his long arms, landing three solid blows before she danced back, out of reach.

Moving faster, he jumped in, landing a solid blow to her sternum with the heel of his hand that knocked her back and left her gasping.

Shepard laughed. "Is that the best you've got, Kryik? Where's the deadly?" She winced and stretched, cracking her back. That last one hurt. Not that she'd ever admit it. She lifted one eyebrow, pulling back enough to meet his eyes, and bit her lip. "You a good little housecat? Keep the claws sheathed?"

He growled and feinted, spinning to hook her arm. He rolled her over his cowl and onto the mat, landing hard on top of her, knocking the wind from her lungs. "You really don't know when to shut up do you?" He swept up her one leg, pinning her hard. "Why are you always peeling back my plates?"

She gasped for a second while she waited for her organs to settle back into their usual spots, then grinned and bucked up off the mat, using her hips and shoulders to roll him. Leaning over him, she grinned. "You need to loosen up, Kryik. Learn how to relax and just banter a bit. Not everything is the end of the world."

He scoffed as he threw her back, rolling effortlessly to his feet. He jumped in, distracting her with a left hand swipe, while bringing his right fist in low, aiming for her belly. "Some things are the end of the world, Shepard. I know enough to tell the difference. You treat everything like a joke." His eyes flashed with anger.

She tumbled backwards over her left shoulder, wincing as it complained. "Having a grin on my face doesn't mean I'm taking things lightly." She blocked three quick blows, then danced in, trying to land several of her own, all of which he swept aside.

"You've got a smart, filthy mouth, and you piss off everyone you come in contact with, even the people we need to be our allies." He backed off and dropped his arms. "What is wrong with you? I assumed coming in that with your military record, the crazy bitch rumours were the exaggerations of jealous comrades."

She dropped her hands as well, letting them hang heavy from her shoulders. "And now you honestly think I'm insane? There's no room for my behaviour to be tactically based?" Shrugging, she walked over to the stack of mats and grabbed her water bottle, taking a long drink. She offered it to him, cocking an eyebrow and waiting him out as he appeared to be deciding whether the offer constituted a trap.

He took it and drank, giving her a nod and grunt of thanks as he passed it back. "I have no idea what to think, Shepard. All you do is run that damned mouth too fast for me to know what's real." He stepped back in, giving her a second to get her guard up before he started throwing blows fast and furious.

She blocked them, but his speed threw her off on her left side. "You got something better for me to do with my mouth?"

He laughed and leaped into the opening. "You just can't help but throw yourself at anything male, can you?" He flipped her onto her ass and bounced away.

Lying there, she gasped for a second, then rolled to her feet. Her jaw tightened, molars squeaking together, but she forced a smile. "I could help myself, anytime, anywhere, but I'm choosy." She took her stance, hands held in front of her face, and beckoned. "You quitting?"

"Choosy is not the word I'd use." He dropped his hands and backed away from her again, contempt and . . . something that made her stomach roll, staring back at her. "Does your behaviour have its roots in your colourful past? Drug addicts frequently need to pay for their habits in less than savoury ways."

Shepard reeled away from the blow, his words landing harder than his fists. Tears sprang to her eyes before she could crush them, and for a moment, she wondered if the pain in her chest was a heart attack. She held his glare, the teasing grin melting from her face, the muscles paralyzed and slack.

Finally, letting out a sigh that trembled far closer to a whimper than she cared for, she nodded. "Yeah. That was me, Kryik. You nailed it straight on the head. Five credit blow jobs from behind a dumpster in an alley. You must be psychic."

She forced a laugh that came out tasting like bile and sounded enough like a retch that she couldn't be sure it hadn't been one. She grabbed her towel and threw it around her neck. "You might want to take a second to ask yourself how many people you've seen me flirt with. Harkin was business, the fastest route to what we needed that didn't involve de-boning him in a public place." It took her a few seconds and hard swallows to get her next words out. "I told you I use my sexuality as a weapon, and I do, very effectively. Get this straight, Spectre. I don't fire on friendlies. Ever."

Closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye, she tucked her leg behind his and swept his feet out from under him, a firm hand on his keel shoving him onto his back. "Some things you just . . . do not . . . have the right . . . to say to me. Understand? I'm no whore, Kryik. Cement that into your memory, or I'll take you to school until you do. I swear to the sweet baby Jesus it's a lesson they'll carry you away from." She shoved herself up and stormed off, biting down on her tongue to keep from letting out a sob of humiliation and fury.

She barrelled through the ship until she reached her quarters, then threw her towel across the cabin. "Fuck!" Her lamp followed the towel, then the stack of datapads on her desk, her Alliance reg manual, and everything else not bolted to the floor. Still, the fury and disgust . . . and hurt . . . ate at her. How dare he?

Her eyes burned as hot, salty tears welled up, then spilled down her cheeks. She wound up and punched the wall. How dare he?

_When you like him so much._

"Shut up," she growled. Her fist hit the metal with a satisfying thump that vibrated through the bulkhead.

_"We're sorry, miss, there was nothing we could do. You're lucky to be alive after a knife wound like that. We're very sorry for your loss."_

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" Both hands pounded against the unyielding surface until exhaustion drove her to stop, sweat pouring over her skin as thick as the tears.

Knuckles rapped on the door.

She backed up and sat on the corner of the bed, elbows on her knees, throbbing hands dangling. "What do you want, Alenko?" It didn't take a genius to know who it was, considering she'd been beating the shit out of the wall right behind him.

The door opened. "Ma'am." He stared at her hands for long enough that she had to grind her teeth together not to say anything.

"Spit it out and move on, Sparky." She wiped the tears from her face on the sleeves of her t-shirt.

"Are you okay?"

She laughed, harsh and bitter. "It's all relative, Sparky. It's all relative. But yes, I'm fully functional and all over business. Is there anything else?"

He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. "No, but I know what to get you for your birthday now."

Shepard laughed, caught off guard. "Oh?"

"Punching bag for in here. The _Normandy_ wasn't made to withstand that sort of punishment." He walked over and ran his hand down the wall. "Thought for sure there'd be dents."

Shepard chuckled and nodded toward the door. "Get the hell out of here, Alenko. We're due on Therum in a couple of hours. If you want to be on the ground team, you better be waiting in the Mako."

He backed toward the door, groaning. "The Mako? Couldn't the _Normandy_ just drop us from orbit without chutes? Be less painful." He grinned and gave her a sharp salute when she growled.

When the door closed behind him, she held up her hands. "Well, damn, you fucked them up, didn't you, Shepard?" Leaving the tape in place, she crossed her arms, tucking her hands into her armpits, then headed over to med bay.

"Fuck." She stopped in the doorway when she saw Nihlus sitting on one of the beds.

"Do you need something, Captain?" Dr. Chakwas asked, looking around the turian.

Shepard shook her head. "No, Doc. Thanks. As you were." She grabbed two medi-gel packs then backed out. Heading over to the freezer, she grabbed a couple of ice packs. It would have to do until she was in her armour and could mainline medi-gel.

"Shepard!"

She let out a long sigh, but didn't turn around. "What is it, Kryik?"

"I . . . uh . . .."

She half turned toward him. "I haven't got all day, just spit it out."

He glanced over at Alenko then back, nodding toward the door behind her. "Could we discuss this in your quarters?"

Shepard shook her head. "Not right now. I need to go over the scans for Therum. We can talk about whatever when we get back." She spun on her heel and headed in to her cabin. Just before she stepped inside, she remembered that he'd been in medbay and glanced back. "Unless this is about a mission critical injury. Did I damage something?" When he shook his head, she kept going.

"Shepard!"

"I'll see you down at the Mako in an hour, Nihlus." She shut and locked the door behind her, then set her chair upright. After staring at it for a moment, she flopped on the bed. She injected both hands with the medi-gel, then wrapped them in the ice packs and laid them gingerly on her belly.

"I'm an idiot." She sighed and closed her eyes. "A complete idiot."


	13. Chapter 13

It occurred to Shepard on her way down to the cargo bay in the elevator that maybe, just maybe, her tried and true method for keeping the universe at bay might not work as well as the captain of a ship as it had as an N7. She'd never cared about getting along with people. Life was not a popularity contest; it was about survival and getting the job done.

The people who stuck around long enough always figured her out. She'd put Anderson through all the rings of hell after he pulled her off Mindoir, and he'd never let her down.

Letting people inside her shields before she got them disarmed just invited a shot to the head . . . or the heart. A chuckle as brittle as a February ice storm echoed off the walls. She pressed the heel of her hand against the lingering pain that throbbed alongside her heartbeat.

_Case in point, Shepard. Case in point._

When the elevator opened on the bottom deck of her ship, the Marines and her team had already assembled. She gave Sparky a crooked smile and a nod, but passed by, heading for where Gunnery Chief Williams stood armoured and ready, but separate.

"Ma'am." The woman gave Shepard a brisk salute.

Shepard returned the salute. "At ease, Chief." She glanced over her shoulder at the Marines then back. "You all right taking squad leader?" She held Ashley's eyes, searching for any sign that the gunnery chief wasn't ready to step up. "I think you've got the brains and the spine for leadership, so I'm tossing you in the deep end, Williams. If you're not ready, you need to tell me. There's no disgrace in needing to put some time and distance between yourself and the sort of hell you went through on Eden Prime."

Ashley straightened and gave Shepard another salute. "I'm ready, ma'am. Five by five."

"Excellent." Shepard nodded toward the gathered Marines. "Go get 'em, Chief. Good luck down there."

The soldier softened a little just at the edges. "You too, ma'am."

Shepard stopped next to Jenkins. "How you holding up, Corporal? Did you hear anything about your folks?"

Jenkins saluted, then nodded. "Yes, ma'am, they're both fine, thank you."

"Glad to hear it." She patted his shoulder. "Take care of yourself down there."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Sparky, you're driving," Shepard called, striding toward the Mako. She grinned at Garrus. "You ready to go, C-Sec?"

He nodded, and opened the hatch at the back of the tank. "Your chariot, Captain."

She chuckled and gave him a sweeping bow. "You're starting to worry me, big guy. Did turians use chariots, or are you a student of ancient human history?" She winced a little as she pressed her hands to the Mako's floor and hopped up. "You want the cannon and electronics, or the gun, C-Sec?"

She sat on one of the seats in the back. Kaidan brushing past on the way to the operator's seat.

"You're not driving, and you're not shooting?" Nihlus asked, hopping in. "You take a debilitating head injury during our sparring match, Shepard?"

Shooting Kaidan a cautionary glare and quick shake of the head, Shepard leaned back. "Something like that, Kryik." She looked back to Garrus. "Which is it, big guy?"

His mandibles spread wide and fluttered. "Cannon."

She laughed, brightly, if a little forced. "I can see that it's always going to be the biggest gun with you." She nodded to Nihlus. "That leaves you the other gun."

"You're really just going to sit there?" He moved to the other front seat despite questioning her. Garrus strapped himself into the seat at the cannon controls and powered up the electronics suite.

"I might even take a nap . . . if Sparky can keep us out of the lava." She strapped herself in, her hands clumsy, but managing to get the harness buckled before anyone noticed. "Hell, I might stay in the car unless I find something of tourist value."

"With all due respect, Captain, our odds of avoiding lava are a lot better than if you were driving," Kaidan called back. "You just relax, lie back and take your nap while I demonstrate how to make this baby handle like a prized thoroughbred."

"You haven't seen me drive to know if I endanger lives or property," she called back, stretching out as far as she could within her harness.

"Do you remember a Marine by the name of Lt. Angus McLaren, Captain?" Kaidan called back as he started bringing the massive tank to life.

The name lit a fire under Shepard's skin. "Hey! That totally wasn't my fault. McLaren was navigating. He said that river was shallow enough to cross." Despite her embarrassed blush, Shepard grinned, recalling the screams of her team. Good times.

"How many waterfalls did it go over before you finally got it back on shore, again? Four?" Kaidan finished the pre-start checklist and activated the controls, the Mako rumbling to life.

Shepard ignored his laughter and purred. "Oh yeah, this is going to be nice, just like a baby on a Sunday drive." She yawned and laid her head back, closing her eyes. "You're such a drama queen, Sparky. Get this damned thing on the ground, and let's go find this matriarch's daughter."

"Captain?"

"What is it, Joker?" She sat up, hearing the bad news in his tone.

"The dig site contacted us, said they were under attack, then the message cut out."

"Deja vu," Shepard said, her heart sinking. "Okay, drop us outside the enemy perimeter. We'll fight our way in. As long as that plateau is still viable, land the second team there as planned."

"Roger that."

Shepard shook her head. "You heard the man, we're fighting our way in. I hope you're as good as you think you are, Sparky."

"Roger that, Shepard."

Alenko lived up to his own hype, mostly. She left it to Garrus and Nihlus to yell at him when he set the tires on fire trying to avoid blasts from armature class geth, choosing to watch her team from under heavily lidded eyes. More than once, she had to clamp down on her lip to avoid saying something, but Nihlus stepped up and took command. For their parts, Sparky and C-Sec took no time at all to settle into a rhythm, bantering back and forth as they coordinated keeping the Mako out of the line of fire and blowing the geth to hell.

She grinned to herself as they debated the best way to tackle the few geth fortifications they came across. Although never quite relaxed enough to sleep through it, she pretended, while keeping one eye on the tank's damage sensors. She got out at the first compound, emptying the lockers and crates while her boys played commando, raiding the outbuildings on either side of the massive gates. She piled the weapons, armour and mods in the back of the Mako, then climbed back in, holding her aching hands trapped under her arms.

"Here." Making no more fuss than if he were brushing lint off her shoulder, Garrus fastened her harness, then sat back at the cannon.

Shepard shook her head. Of course he'd seen. He said so little and yet saw everything with those pale, ice-blue eyes. She nodded her thanks when he looked her way again, then sat back until Kaidan called out that the luxury cruise had come to an end. She climbed out and pulled first Ingrid and then Roger from her back, trying to decide which one would hurt less to fire. Either one was going to smart like a mother.

They clambered over the wall of rock in their way, and she radioed for the _Normandy_ to pick up the Mako before they set out for the dig site. A hundred metres in they encountered the first resistance, mostly just troopers with the odd rocket trooper thrown in to keep them on their toes.

Shepard launched her drone, keeping it active, and then stuck to a support role, overloading and sabotaging to save her hands. It worked well until they came under fire from snipers entrenched in towers several hundred metres up the road.

Shepard let the rest of her squad take out the geth on the ground and took cover, pulling Ingrid from her back. "Okay, my love. Do me proud,"

Shepard set up the shot, resting the gun on the rock, setting the sight on the distant tower. She adjusted for the wind, took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then fired. The geth toppled out of the tower. Shepard bit down on a thin shrill of pain as the gun kicked back, the impact sending bolts of fiery lightning searing halfway up her forearm before they eased.

"Sweet shot, Captain," Kaidan said and whistled.

"Why thank you, Sparky. I live to entertain." She lined up the shot for the second tower, this one a good hundred metres further out. Compensating, she went through her routine. Hesitating for just a second, Shepard steeled herself, then the second geth fell.

Garrus walked up beside her and nodded. "The first one . . . silver medal at best." His subvocals rumbled. "The second, nothing but gold."

Shepard hung the sniper rifle from her back, a quirky smile on her lips, her heart speeding up a little in her chest. "What, you a cop or something, C-Sec? You been running my rap sheet?"

He chuckled and switched his guns. "Something like that."

"Yeah, it's an compelling thriller packed with heartbreak, suspense, and a whole lot of stupid." She spawned her drone and followed as Nihlus took the lead once more.

Kaidan walked backwards for two steps. "That's right, I remember hearing something about that. You won an Olympic medal for something, didn't you?"

She spun her finger in a turn around gesture and pointed up the road. "Oh look, Sparky, there's no one on point." She sighed and shrugged Roger off her back. "And it was two medals, actually. In Biathlon."

He made a low hum and nodded as he trotted past Nihlus. "Skiing and shooting, right?"

"Yep. Now, enough with the ancient history lesson. We're going to be getting shot at again in a minute or two." She squared her shoulders, her spine crackling like someone walking over bubble wrap, and hefted her rifle.

In fact, they fought pretty steadily up the last few hundred metres to the excavation site. A couple of new leapfrogging friends, a half dozen troopers, three krogan, and an armature awaited them in the camp. Nihlus and Kaidan worked on the smaller units while she and Vakarian whittled down the armature with overload and their sniper rifles.

"I really hate the jumping ones," Kaidan gasped, throwing himself behind a crate at Shepard's side.

"Spray and pray, Sparky." Shepard waited for the burst of plasma from the armature's canon, then swung out and overloaded before putting a bullet in its head.

Kaidan ducked out then back. "You meant bullets, right?"

Garrus took out the armature with his next round, then they set to work on the krogan. After another half hour of dancing in large circles around walls and crates, Shepard bent over, resting on her knees, her chest heaving, sweat running down her face. "Sweet baby Jesus, Saren wants to make sure we get our exercise." She looked up. "You all in one piece, gentlemen?"

"I think my amp set the back of my head on fire," Alenko groaned.

"Fine here," Nihlus called, striding past her and up the ramp into the mine shaft. "The doctor's got to be in here if she's still alive."

Shepard nodded and heaved herself up, giving Garrus a gentle nudge as she went past. "You okay, C-Sec?"

He straightened and pushed away from the railing that had been holding him up. "Yeah, Shepard, I'm fine. Damn krogan."

"Yeah, tough sons-of-bitches," she agreed, climbing the ramp a few metres behind Nihlus.

"We need to start bringing Wrex along," he suggested.

Shepard laughed. "The Mako will seem so crowded and claustrophobic with all that krogan." She lifted her hand to her ear. "Williams, sitrep?"

"Under fire, but nothing we can't handle, Shepard. We're making our way down to cover the entrance now," the chief reported.

"Roger that, Shepard out." She followed Nihlus from the bleak, brown-black, smouldering surface into a narrow, corrugated metal tube. "Oh yeah, this can't possibly go wrong," she muttered, staring down the hundred metre stretch.

"Sitting ducks," Kaidan whispered.

"Sh!" Nihlus hissed, glancing back. "I hear geth."

"Pick it up," Shepard whispered. "Get out of here and into cover." She hunkered down, taking point ahead of Nihlus, and sent her drone out. Hopefully it would distract and confuse.

A shock trooper stepped into the mouth of the tunnel, its back to them as it fired on the drone. Shepard overloaded it and the others took it down. Unmistakable chattering and clicking sounds echoed through the cavern beyond the tunnel.

Lifting into double-time, Shepard moved as silently as she could down the rest of the tunnel. It branched right, more geth showing through the metal railings along the catwalks. She spawned a new drone and settled in to the familiar heartbeat of battle.

They fought their way down through a series of ramps and catwalks set up to get the people down into the mine, signs of battle becoming more and more apparent the further in they went. Shepard stepped into an elevator, no small amount of trepidation and claustrophobia clinging to her back. She stood at the front of the platform, staring straight out, trying to ignore the shrinking metal cage around her.

She leaped out the moment the door opened and let out the lungful of air she'd been holding.

A little further along, they reached another elevator, this one definitely showing signs of heavy bombardment damage, like someone had been using missiles. She searched for another way down, but all the tiled corridors leading out of the cavern glowed blue, the entrances sealed by kinetic barriers.

"Prothean?" Nihlus asked, stepping up beside her.

"That would be my guess. Unless the archeological team are all a bunch of neat freaks and tile their dig sites." Shepard shoved her shoulders back, cracked her neck and stepped into the elevator.

"Two seconds," she muttered to herself, trying to avoid looking at the twisted metal. "You can endure it for two seconds." She looked down. "Ohhh stupid move, Shepard," she groaned, louder than she intended.

Below them, the elevator shaft had been reduced to pretzel-shaped metal, and fallen chunks of the ruins.

"There's got to be another way down," she said, but too late. Nihlus hit the control and the door closed, sealing her in. Again, she moved to the front, standing close enough to the structure to keep it at the extreme of her peripherals.

Letting out a horrific grinding shriek, and a shower of sparks, the lift lurched to a halt. Shepard looked down. It was only maybe a ten foot drop, but first they needed to escape the cage.

"C-Sec, can you get us out of here?" she asked, taking position at the side of the elevator to watch for incoming enemy troops. She turned her back to them, struggling to keep her breathing from whistling through her nose as it sped up and shallowed.

"You're an engineer, aren't you?" Vakarian asked, giving her a cocky nod.

"You have a point to make?"

_Oh for the sake of the sweet baby Jesus, just cut us out of this fucking thing!_

"Pretty sure I already made it," he said, his chuckle warm.

The tones moving under his voice and through his laugh slowed her breathing a little, her heart taking two entire beats before fluttering. "Just open the door, wise-assless." Shepard meant to keep going, but then a little voice called out of the rubble below them.

"Hello?"

Shepard clung to the distraction of that call. She opened her mouth the answer, then closed it as she saw movement at the far end of the cavern. She traded Roger for Ingrid and looked through the sight. A few shock troopers and two rocket troopers picked their way over the uneven surface.

Shepard gestured to Nihlus, then pointed down the cavern. When he nodded and reached behind him, she looked back to her sights, lining up a rocket trooper's head. A red laser nearly blinded her as it homed in, then a shot blasted against her shields, throwing her back.

"Son of a motherless . . .." She lifted the rifle, looking for the geth sniper. Her lip curled in a vengeful grimace as she took its head off. A shrill cry greeted the crack of her rifle.

"Who's there?" the voice called. Definitely young and female, Shepard decided.

Nihlus took a shot, grunting in satisfaction as the rocket trooper's head exploded in a spray of white fluids.

"Please, if you're not geth, say something."

"We're busy at the moment, love," Shepard called. "Put on your big girl panties and breathe."

"Put on my wha-?"

Shepard took out the other rocket trooper.

"How dare y-?"

Nihlus put a bullet straight through the flashlight on one of the shock troopers, earning him a Shepard grunt of approval.

Shepard lined up her next shot, her shields sparking now that the troopers were in range with their rifles. Her finger tightened on the trigger.

"I don't know who you are, but-" The voice shrilled, sending sharp metal spikes up Shepard's spine.

The captain jumped, then took a long breath. As if her nerves weren't frayed enough being trapped in the tiny metal cage of death. "Sweet baby Jesus, lady. Shut the fuck up for five seconds." Shepard took the shot, winging the geth, and cursed, lining it up again. Her shield indicator flashed at her, warning her of their imminent failure. The last two geth went down, and she let out a long sigh as she holstered Ingrid.

"Lovely soundtrack," she sighed. "How's that door coming?"

"Who are you? You've got to get me out of here."

"Hold your horses," Shepard called back. "We're coming." She craned her head around Garrus to look at his cutting work. "Maybe."

A second later he turned his back to his work and kicked behind him, sending a chunk of the elevator crashing to the floor of the cavern. He chuffed a little and stepped back. "Your door, Captain."

She grinned as she ducked through. "Very nice, C-Sec. Practically a work of art. I can see why you're so proud."

He just chuffed again, his subvocals rumbling.

"Hello?"

"We're on our way," Shepard called back. She looked down, trying to figure the best way down through the rubble. Why had the geth blown the crap out of the cavern?

Nihlus jumped down ahead of her, picking his way over the heaved slabs of rock and concrete. She followed his path, seeing the reason for the use of rockets when she reached the bottom.

"Well, damn," Shepard said, crossing her arms and cocking a hip. "I didn't expect this. In fact, I probably couldn't have guessed this if I'd tried."

Like the rest of the corridors leading off the main cavern, a barrier curtain blocked the way forward. The part that had Shepard thrown related directly to the asari on the other side, dangling in mid air like a butterfly in a spider's web.

The asari let out a long sigh. "Thank the goddess. Help. I've been trapped here for days."

"Um . . .." Shepard walked up to the barrier. Struggling to rein in her sarcasm, she looked over the situation. "How the hell?"

The asari ignored Shepard, looking to Nihlus. "Please, you have to get me out of here. I've been trapped in here for days."

"That would explain why the dig site lost contact with her," Garrus offered.

"Dr. Liara T'Soni?" Shepard asked. When she didn't get an answer, she waved. "Hey, lady, focus on the cranky human. Are you Dr. Liara T'Soni?"

"Yes." The asari finally looked back at Shepard, her mouth turned up in a delicate sneer of distaste.

"How did you get into this mess?" Shepard prodded the energy field a little, but it was too strong for even her overload.

"The geth and krogan came after me. I activated the barrier curtains, but I must have triggered a security device." She grumbled a little. "Please, I've been here for days. If you can get past the barrier curtain, there is a control panel."

Shepard walked right up to the energy field. "Look, honey, my partner here will probably try to talk me into letting you out of there, because, let's face it, you're an asari maiden . . . he's turian. Between us, he hasn't gotten any in awhile and a nice dance might loosen him up." Shepard crossed her arms and leaned back, letting out a long, heavy sigh.

"Your problem lies with the fact that, as much as my life might improve if someone worked that rod out of his ass, I need more, and it's me you have to convince. I've got to know that you're going to be more useful to us than helping Kryik over there get his rocks off." Shepard ignored the elbow that smacked into her from behind. "Your mother is Matriarch Benezia. We believe that she's helping Saren destroy the entire galaxy. Can you help me with that, or do I go back to my ship and look for someone who can?"

The asari went a darker shade of blue, her mouth opening and closing like a beached fish for a second before an indignant squeal made it out. "How dare you? I'm not some stripper in a seedy bar. I'm a doctor of archeology and an expert on the prothean extinction."

Shepard backed up, making beeping sounds. "Ship for the people useful to Shepard now leaving. Last call for boarding . . . all those useful to Shepard please get aboard."

The asari let out an enraged noise that wavered between scream and shout. "Fine. Fine! I haven't had any contact with my mother in years, but I can tell you that she wouldn't just be trying to destroy the galaxy. I'll help you find her, even if just to figure out why she's helping Saren."

"And if I need to put her down?" All traces of humor drained from Shepard's face. "Am I going to be fighting her and you?"

The archeologist took a deep breath and shook her head, meeting Shepard's stare with one that finally told Shepard what she was looking for. "No. If my mother really has joined Saren, then these geth and krogan trying to capture or kill me are here under her orders as well."

Shepard nodded. "Okay. Give us a minute or two to figure this thing out." She turned her back on the energy field and let out a long sigh.

"Do you have to antagonize everyone right off the mark?" Nihlus whispered, stepping up beside her.

"Nothing gets to the real person faster than pissing them off, Kryik." She gave him a dead, exhausted stare. "Look how well it worked on me."

He chuffed and gave her that exasperated rumble from his subvocals, but she saw his mandibles drop.

She strode forward. "We need to find a way to get the doctor out of her situation." Spotting geth making their way down the chamber, she glanced behind her. "Sparky. C-Sec. Look sharp, bogies at our twelve. You two stay here and keep the good doctor company. We'll go down and see if we can get past that curtain."

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Kaidan answered.

Shepard grabbed her pistol off her hip and made her way down the rubble field to an intact walkway, pausing to shoot the few geth that made it past Garrus and Alenko. By the time she made it down to the cavern floor, they'd cleared the way.

"Nicely done, gentlemen," she called up.

Shepard scanned the side of the cavern closest to the trapped scientist. "Looks like there was a way through there, but it caved in. She winced, giving her head a quick, single shake and clicking her tongue. "I don't like it. This whole place seems as unstable as hell." She looked up at Garrus. "Hey, C-Sec, we're right in that super fragile, danger spot you marked, aren't we?"

"Yes. The rear exit you intended to use is on the other side of the doctor's barrier and then a hard right," the turian answered, gesturing as he explained.

"Yeah. Okay." She wandered up the cavern, picking up dropped supplies as she went. her mind flipping through possibilities, discarding each as it appeared.

"That's a mining laser." Alenko pointed out. "It's aimed the right way."

"Yes . . . to destabilize the entire mine," Nihlus grumbled.

"Yeah," Shepard agreed. Still, she stopped next to the giant laser. "We might not have a choice. Activate it for a few seconds, cut through to the tunnel on the other side of that barrier." She shrugged when Nihlus chuffed, his subvocals rumbling. "I'm open to less crazy options. We could grab one of the geth rocket launchers, but it's using a wrecking ball instead of a scalpel."

"No, you're right. We don't have any other means to get through it. The rocket launchers collapsed all this. Any more explosions, the whole place could come down on our heads." Nihlus stepped back.

"Okay guys," Shepard called as she opened her omnitool to hack the laser controls. "This could be the last stupid thing I do in a really long line of massively stupid things, so be ready to grab the doctor and run." Casting one last glance behind her at Nihlus, she hit the override.


End file.
